The Adventures of Oscar
by Penny Charlotte Brown
Summary: It all started when Oscar dressed for the ball, and that s when the adventures began...the story of a mysterious costume
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1**

"What a lovely weather" André though as he looked up in the sky. The day had started fine; he had had a good night sleep, the breakfast had been wonderful and Oscar had been in good mood. But wasn´t it always that he had slept well and the breakfast had been wonderful? Considering that his grandmother had made it? She was the best cook he ever knew. So, if it wasn´t for those, then it must have been that Oscar was in the good mood. Yes, that´s it. Lately Oscar had been both busy and tense. "She should relax sometimes" he thought. But this morning she seemed to be fine and when she was fine, he was fine.

He had escorted Oscar to the Palace, and then came to Paris to run some errands for her father. At the same trip he had popped into a bakery to buy some delicious bread. André had just stepped out of the bakery, when he heard someone calling his name. "André!" He turned to look and saw a strange noble couple.

"André! Don´t you recognize us?" the man asked.

"No, I´m afraid not, sir…" he hesitated. He was quite sure he had never met them.

"Sir?" the man laughed "now you´re mistaken! We´re not nobles!"

"It´s us!" said the woman "Julie and Jean Valmot"

André was stunned. He did know a couple by that name, but these two...were not them. It was impossible. He was certain of it. Besides, where would they have expensive clothes like that? "No" he though and shook his head.

But then, the man first took off his wig and then he grabbed his nose, when his face came off. It was a mask André had never seen before. It had looked so real…André´s eyes became wide open. He was stunned. The man had taken off his face!

The man laughed "so, we fooled you, André!" he was indeed Jean Valmot. "Why don´t you come to visit our home, we have something for you."

"I´d love to, but I´m rather busy. I was running some errands for the master and I should get back soon…She´s waiting for me." he explained.

"Still working for de Jarjayes family? "said Julie with a smile "you´re so devoted."

André didn´t know what to reply, so he changed the subject "What are you doing dressing up like that anyway? In masks…of some sort…"

"That´s what we want to tell you! I´m glad we pumped into you." Jean said "There´s something important, but I cannot tell you in public" he whispered.

"Well, I could spare a few moments…" André was rather curious. Couple of more minutes wouldn´t make any difference, anyway.

So the three walked towards a small, rather archaic house nearby. By first glance one could notice that it was a house of a poor family. And when they stepped inside, André noticed that everything was out of place and there was a mess everywhere. "Are you moving?" he asked.

"Yes" Jean answered "You know how difficult the life is in Paris, especially for the children…" he explained.

André then remembered their daughter, little Ann, who had been sick and weak but the couple had been unable to buy bread for the girl. It was how they have met. When André had seen their situation, he had gone into the bakery and bough bread for the family. They had been really grateful for him and promised to pay him back one day. He had just nodded. Of course he had known they couldn´t pay him back, and it was fine. He had been happy only to help them.

"How is little Ann?" he asked.

"She´s doing fine, but we have decided to move back into the countryside, where the air is fresher and environment saver for the children." Jean replied.

"He has got a job from there, and I´m sure I will get something, too" Julie said smiling. She was in a good mood.

André smiled "I´m happy for you" then he gave the bread to Julie "Here, take this."

"But André…" she started.

"No buts. You know you need it more than I do. There´s plenty of food for me back home. Besides, you have children…" André explained…"Take it as a farewell gift from me, eh?"

"Thank you, André!" she said and took the bread. Then she went into another room.

"You´re welcome" he smiled.

"André " said Jean and took something from his closet…"there. This is for you."

He held clothing in his arms, but not just any clothing: It was a fine clothing for a noble man. With accessories, masks, wigs and everything. André was surprised. How could a poor couple possibly afford that sort of things?

"As you already know…" Jean started to explain…"I´ve worked as a servant for awhile before marrying my Julie. Sometime ago my former master died and left me and my family a small fortune. A small house from the countryside, little bit of money…and these clothing and wigs…"

"Congratulations, then!" André said. He was really happy for them.

Jean was about to continue, when he was interrupted…"André! André!" they heard a little girl yelling. It was Ann, who was running from outside towards the house. She looked happy and healthy. She ran right into André´s arms. "André!" she said.

He hugged the girl."How´s my favorite girl?" he asked her.

"Fine!" she replied."We´re moving into our own home!" she explained.

"So I´ve heard" he replied.

"Will you come to visit us?" she asked.

"I´d love to, but I´m afraid it´s a bit too far…" he explained " I´ve got so much work to do here…"

Ann looked disappointed

"I´m sorry…"

"Then…" she started "then promise me, that you´ll wait for me when I grow old so that we can get married" she said. She had a crush on him ever since he gave her the bread. He was her angel. Of course, it was just a child´s dream.

André laughed "I think I will be a bit too old by then. Besides, I´m sure you´ll find some nice boy…"

"Ann!" her mother yelled "stop teasing André!" and then she took the girl away. "I´m sorry, André" she turned towards him.

"It´s alright." André replied.

"Come on, Ann. We need to pack" Julie said and escorted Ann into another room."Bye bye, André" the little girl waved at him.

"Bye bye, Ann" André said.

"You would be a wonderful father" said Jean after they were left alone in the room.

"I…" André started. He didn´t exactly know what to reply. Children? Yes, he did like children, but it was impossible for him to have his own children. How could he, when he couldn´t marry _her_.

"I know, André. You´re in love with the lady…" he said.

"What?!" André startled."I have no idea of what you´re talking about"

"You don´t have to pretend. Not among friends. Haven´t I seen to way you look at her when she´s not watching?" Jean told him smiling.

"…"

"Come on, André. What´s her name? Lady de Jarjayes?"

"It´s Oscar François…"

"That´s the one" Jean smiled.

Had he been so careless to show his feelings? He had done his best to keep his secret, but…"Is it so obvious?" he asked.

"Yes."

"Well, then you know I can never have children." André explained.

"Hmm…I wonder about that. " Jean said "She looks like ice, but even the strongest ice will melt."

It wasn´t exactly that that was bothering André. "But I´m a commoner and she´s a noble…" he explained. He knew that it was almost impossible for them to get married. There was a whole world against them. At least, that´s what it felt like. He never understood the stupid law that forbad a commoner for marrying a noble.

"That´s why I´m giving you these" Jean smiled mysteriously…"My old master had a strange hobby; he was obsessed with an idea to dress up the way no one would recognize him. Not only did he wear wigs that he normally wouldn´t wear, but also he had made some masks that looked like real faces, eyebrows, mustaches and all sorts of things. And he was quite good in that…" then he admitted "to tell you the truth; I never understood his passion…"

André laughed. The man had indeed been quite a character, but André didn´t understand what this all got to do with him. "And you are telling me, because…" he asked with curiosity.

"Haven´t you ever dreamed of flirting with her, with your lady I mean? Dancing with her? Kissing her?" Jean asked.

André was silent. There was no need to ask that. Of course he had, but it was all just the dream. Nothing else. It could never come through…He went deep into his thoughts as he thought of every little dream he had of her. But those were just dreams.

Only that one time he had really kissed her, but it was when she had been passed out, so she never knew. Luckily, for his sake. What if she had found out? The biggest fear he had that she would no longer need him; that she would throw him out. And then, what he would do? She was his life.

"I know that the possibility for you to marry her is very weak, but with these you can at least flirt with her." Jean suggested.

"What are you saying!" André blushed. He knew it was impossible. He could never…

"It´s all up to you..." he said and then gave the clothes to André "Do whatever you want with these. Those are yours anyway."

"Thank you, Jean" André replied "I really got to be going now" he covert the clothes within a sheet and left the house." Good luck with your new life!" he yelled. Then he started to run. He was late. He didn´t want to keep _her_ waiting.

"Thank you! And good luck with your lady!" Jean replied.

André rushed to Oscar and they spend all day at the Palace, working. It was already late, when they got home, so Oscar just said good night and went to bed. André had been able to hide the clothes from her by placing those in the carriage. But as soon as Oscar had gone to bed, André returned to the carriage to collect the clothes. He then searched a safe place to hide those. No one could ever see those. After he had placed the clothes in a safe place, he returned to his room, changed into his nightgown, blew the candles and went to bed. As he lied on his bed, he thought of the conversation with the Valmot family " _Haven´t you ever dreamed of flirting with her? …Dancing with her? Kissing her?_ " Jean´s words came back to his mind. He smiled when he remembered the time he had carried Oscar from the tavern to their home and kissed her. Her lips had been so warm and tasty. "If only I could do that" he thought "Just once more."

He turned around to get better position. But that didn´t help; he was unable to sleep because his mind still wandered into the day´s experiences. "I wonder if those clothes fit me" he thought. He could try those on, but he could never wear those. "It had been quite interesting, but…" he thought. He was quite sure he didn´t have any use of those. Until, something unexpected happened…


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

One evening, a few days later, André witnessed something he had thought he´d never see…Oscar, his Oscar was going to a ball. In a dress.

"Where´s the corset?" André´s grandmother rushed pass him.

"Oscar is going to wear a dress?!" André was shocked "My Oscar…is going to wear a dress?! And dance with other men?!" he thought as he waited outside her room listening the conversation between his grandmother and Oscar. It sounded like a torture when his grandmother was dressing her…

"Aah! What are you trying to do?! Kill me?!"

"But Lady Oscar, corset is supposed to be tight!"

"Which way you want the robe to be? The French way or…"

"What does it matter?! Do what whatever you want!"

He could hear them yelling. Poor Oscar…

"Hmm…Oscar in a dress? …With her long legs she must look like a scarecrow…" he thought.

Then he heard the door open and his grandmother came out "André, come and see our mademoiselle in a dress" she told him.

"Yeah yeah…" he said and slowly went inside.

"What´s with that?" his grandmother pushed him right into the room "Go and have a look already!" she yelled.

He couldn´t believe the sight as his eyes met her. "God! She looked gorgeous!" he could hardly breathe as his eyes were fixed on her. He has always known she was very beautiful, but now…She was so feminine, so slender and so... She looked like a Goddess. He was stunned. It took some time for him to recover.

"I can hardly breathe in this dress" Oscar said.

"But…You look beautiful" André replied.

"Really?" she said "It´s alright for once in a lifetime to wear a dress. Just don´t tell my father."

As she started to move, she stumbled and fell onto the floor. "God damn it! Even this one time is enough!" she yelled.

"Mademoiselle! Remember to lift the dress when you walk" André´s grandmother told her. She was worried, but André couldn´t help himself laughing.

"André, you know that you cannot accompany her this evening. It´s because she wants to stay incognito" his grandmother told him.

"Yeah…" he replied as he watched Oscar climbing into the carriage "Oscar, you look so beautiful. You look like Aphrodite. Are you wearing the dress because of Fersen?" he thought "My Oscar" he felt both immense joy and sadness deep inside him. This was the first time he had seen her in a dress and that made him overfilled with happiness, but at the same time he knew she had dressed up for another man…

At that moment, something had changed in him; he suddenly thought of an idea of using the clothes and mask he had been given. He wanted to be in the ball and watch over her. As her companion, he wanted to make sure that nothing bad would happen to her. Normally he wouldn´t be so concerned but now she was vulnerable because of wearing a dress. Anything could happen. He told himself as he rushed to the hiding place to get his costume, wig and mask. He wasn't going to admit that perhaps he was a bit jealous, too…

When he arrived at the ball, he immediately noticed that Oscar was already dancing with count von Fersen. He went closer to them to have a better view. He noticed that people were talking about her, and guessing her identity. They seemed to envy her because of her beauty and the fact that Fersen seemed to be fascinated by her. André wanted so badly to interfere them, took her hand and take her away. Far away from the court, from Fersen and from all the people that seemed to hurt her. If only that could be possible.

Then, he woke up from his dream, when he noticed that Oscar felt uncomfortable with Fersen asking about her. André squeezed his hand. That was enough. He was going to take Oscar away and he didn´t care whether he would cause a gossip or not. But as soon as he approached her, she had already shaken her hand off from Fersen and fled the scene leaving Fersen astounded. André noticed that she ran outside, and he followed her there.

As he came outside, his eyes were looking for her. It didn´t take long to find her. But she seemed to be in very sentimental state and he didn´t dare to bother her, so he just stood little further away from her. She was leaning towards a fountain, crying. He did understand her pain, because it was the same kind of pain that he felt for her. If only he could comfort her. But as André, her servant, he really didn't have a chance…

Then, all of a sudden André noticed a dark figure approaching her; it was the famous Black Knight that had been robbing the nobles. André quickly ran towards him, but the Black Knight noticed that and ran away. If it hadn't been for Oscar, he would have gone after the Black Knight. But now he turned towards her and asked "Are you alright, mademoiselle?" trying to change his voice.

She just looked at him with a surprised gaze, before she could say anything. A moment of silence passed before she could reply to him. "Yes, thank you." she finally said.

"Are you sure? You seem…" André continued, but before he could finish his sentence, she interrupted him.

"Yes. I was only surprised to learn that I wasn´t alone." she said "You saw me crying, didn´t you?" she asked him feeling rather embarrassed.

"I didn´t mean to disturb you, mademoiselle. I was only worried."

She smiled slightly and then walked further away from the manor to somewhat more private place. André followed her there.

"I´ve been foolish" she turned to him "But now, it´s all over." she explained.

"Are you talking about count von Fersen?"

She just looked at him with her eyes wide open. Of course, it was her private matter, and he was intruding…"I´m sorry…" he explained "I just happened to see you with the count a moment ago…"

"Yes" she nodded and was about to leave, when André stopped her.

"Did he hurt you, mademoiselle? Because if he did…"

"No!" she answered. "Not that way you think…He´s been acting like a gentle man…"She seemed to trust him, somehow. She turned her gaze into the distance and started talking… "being in love with someone who doesn't even notice you…" she tried to laugh, but couldn't.

André just stood still and listened. Obviously she didn´t recognize him. Her voice was somewhat softer than usually, and that made her even more attractive. Or maybe it was the beautiful summer night, that had its influence? Either way, she stood very close to him as she told him everything. It was very emotional situation, something he had never expected. Oscar had always been so secretive about her feelings towards Fersen and she hardly ever had mentioned him. But now she told him everything.

After she had finished, there was a moment silence between them. Somehow, being so close to her, made him want to kiss her, but…How could he make an advance towards her? Could he dare? He only knew that he really wanted to embrace her…to comfort her…It was something inside him that told him to act.

"Well…It´s getting late. I should get back home" Oscar broke the silence and started to leave.

But suddenly André then took her hand and said "Mademoiselle…" he had decided to tell her about his feelings. Just this once. As her admirer, as a person she would never meet again afterwards. Someone without a name…" A man, who doesn´t notice you the way you are, is a fool. You are not only beautiful but also amazing in every way; you´re brave and not afraid to stand up for someone who´s in trouble. You´re deep and you have a good heart. In every way you´re dignified …"

Suddenly Oscar blushed and wanted to leave. What was he talking about, all of the sudden? Why would he say those things? She felt his admiring gaze staring at her. It was very delicate moment. She didn´t have time to act, because in the next moment he had taken her into his embrace and kissed her passionately. For awhile she couldn´t do anything, because she was stunned by this sudden action.

When he finally let her go, she was unable to move because her heart was still racing fast. "Mademoiselle" André started "I could never even dream of becoming your husband, but let me at least tell you that I admire you with the bottom of my heart. I adore you. To me you are everything." He then stroke her cheek gently with his hand.

She was speechless for awhile, but then a tear fell from her eye. Why? André got scared that he had gone too far, but then she said: "thank you" and took his hand off her cheek. She didn´t seem to be angry. "I should be going." she told him.

""Thank you"?" André wondered. What that meant? Thank you for his kind words? For the kiss? Or what? He, too, was surprised by this sudden action. And his thoughts were all mixed up. The only thing he was clear about was she wasn´t angry towards him.

André silently escorted her to her carriage and helped her to get inside. "Mademoiselle, will I see you again?" he then asked. He had no idea where that idea came into his head. She looked at him and smiled shyly "I´m certain of it."

Then André closed the door and said "Good night, mademoiselle." He stood by and watched as the carriage drove further away from him. "My Oscar"

Oscar leaned back in her seat as the carriage started to move. She smiled "good night, André" she thought. What an event this turned out to be. She had never expected anything like that. He was in love with her? Could it be possible? After all these years he had never said anything of the sort. And she had always considered him as her brother. "Poor André" she thought. He must suffer a great deal…

Then she thought about the kiss as she touched her lips. They were still burning. His lips had been so passionate "you´re quite amazing kisser." she said and then shook her head "forget about it, Oscar" she told herself. This was something she just had to forget.

But…

After that night something had changed. Oscar could no longer see André as her brother, but…perhaps something more?


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

Some time had passed by since the ball. Oscar never said that she knew about André´s secret. How could she have? She had just given up the whole idea of her ever living a life of a woman. She didn´t want neither romances nor love. That kind of a life was over for her. But why couldn´t she stop thinking about…him?

Oscar was sitting on her balcony sipping her morning tea. She had a lot to think; about her work, and then there was a problem with the Black Knight. Lately, the Black Knight had been robbing the houses of the nobles. The Black Knight had even been at the ball and almost attacked her if André hadn´t come into between…

"André…" she thought. Why was she thinking of him again? And why were her lips burning? Why was her heart beating fast when she thought of that kiss? The night of the ball weren´t the only time he had kissed her. The first time was after the bar fight, where she had drank so much that he had to carry her home. She had been half conscious, when he had kissed her. He had thought she had no idea of his actions, but she had felt his lips pressing hers. His passionate kiss had left mark on her memory. But still she had ignored that. That is, until the night of the ball…

His words came to her mind once more _"I could never even dream of becoming your husband, but let me at least tell you that I admire you with the bottom of my heart. I adore you. To me you are everything."_ She had never guessed his deep feelings towards her. "Poor André" she thought. He felt the same kind of unrequited love towards her that she had felt towards Fersen. André had been wearing some strange costume, but even so she had recognized him. It was because she knew his lips…

"The kiss I know" she thought

"Oscar" she was startled. She woke up from her day dream and saw André standing right next to her. "André!" André looked a little worried, but didn´t say anything. He was just staring at Oscar.

"André!" she yelled "stop staring at me like I was mad!"

"I´m sorry, Oscar. It´s just that you have been acting weird lately. I´m only concerned." he replied. "Please, tell me what´s bothering you…" he continued "maybe you´ve been working too hard… Maybe you should take a day off."

"Thank you, André" she replied "but I can´t. I need to catch the Black Knight."

"That´s not your job…"

"It is my job when he robs from my family friends…

"Oscar…"

"What? Are you defending him? He´s a thief!"

"He´s not particularly harming anyone. And the rumor says he´s distributing the booty to the poor…

"André!" she yelled and looked angrily at him "a thief is a thief. I can´t allow it to continue"

"Well, I guess that´s true" he replied.

"So, after work…Get ready tonight. We´ll going to a ball to wait for him."

"But Oscar…"

"Do you have something else to do!?" she asked him. "Of course not" he replied. But there was something about his reply that made her doubt. Lately, he had spent many evenings away from the mansion. In his own words he had been just out for a horse ride, but it was an obvious lie. But where did he go? And so often? Was it a woman? Was he seen somebody? Somehow that thought made her blood boil. He had just confessed his love for her, so how could he be seen another woman so soon?

"Oscar?" André interrupted her thoughts; again "It´s time to go to Versailles"

"Yes" she replied and finished her morning tea. The day went passed quickly as she was engaged into her usual job.

Then the evening came. It was time to get ready yet to another ball. Oscar was waiting André in her room, when there was a knock on her door. "André, come in" she told, but it wasn´t him, who came in but his grandmother. "Where´s André? It´s time to go to the ball" Oscar asked her. "Ah…Well…He told me a bit ago that he´ll be back in an hour or two…"

"What?!"

"He had some urgent errand to run, so he asked me to tell Mademoiselle to wait until he gets back." was the reply. So, he was seen her again?! "Fine! If André considers visiting a woman more important than helping his childhood friend, then fine! "Why would she care about his kind of a lady killer, anyway! She would do great without him!" Actually, even better!" she thought and got up. "when he comes back, tell him to jump into…" she paused…"never mind. Don´t tell him anything." she left the room leaving her nanny puzzled. "What is the matter with our Mademoiselle? She has been acting rather strangely lately?" she thought.

Oscar attended the ball that night waiting for the Black Knight to show up, and he did indeed. He made his appearance and ran away fast. And she went after him. He was riding towards Paris followed by Oscar. While in Paris, he slowed down and turned around as he was waiting for her. He then took his pistol and shoot towards Oscar so that she fell off her horse."You think you´re the only one with a pistol" she thought and shot back. Now he fell off his horse, but he quickly got up and started to run. Oscar ran after him. She was going to get him.

After chasing him up the stairs, she lost the sight of him. She looked around and noticed a familiar building…"That´s Palais Royale. The Resident Castle of Duke Orléans? But what would the Black Knight be doing there?" she thought. She was so deep in her thoughts that she didn´t notice the danger coming. Suddenly, she felt someone hitting her hard on the head…

Dark. Everything came dark…

She woke up in a small apartment Rosalie by her side. Rosalie told her that she was found unconscious at the front of the house. She was then brought in.

"But Rosalie…why are you here?" she asked her. Last time she had met Rosalie, she was going to live with the Polignac family. But Rosalie told her she left the house, because…

"They only invited me to use as a tool. They were going to force me to marry Duke de Guiche in place of my dead sister Charlotte. After all, nobles only try to protect their lineage and power…"

"I hate nobles"

Those words touched Oscar. It had been a tragedy of what happened to poor Charlotte. And by her own mother! She had forced her to marry a man at the age of 11. And the man in question…Oscar shook her head. No self respectful woman would even look at him, so no wonder that Charlotte chose death instead. But, painfully as it was to know, Charlotte wasn´t the only one. For the first time Oscar thought of her own life. She had been lucky to being raised as a man. Otherwise, she would have been forced to marry at the age of 15, to a man her father would have chosen. How many childbirth she would have have to bear until she wouldn´t have been able to get pregnant again?…And what would she have been doing? Looking pretty in her corset sitting around the mansion all day long…She shook her head. "Oscar" she told herself "stop thinking things like that"

Oscar and Rosalie had a long talk. Oscar offered Rosalie her old room back, but she refused. Rosalie wanted to stay in Paris, even though there wasn´t much to eat…She said she felt more like home among the commoners.

Oscar left Rosalie´s house Rosalie´s words still burdening her mind…

" _nobles only try to protect their lineage and power…"_

On her way home, Oscar witnessed a crowd cheering for the Black Knight…

" _the rumor says he´s distributing the booty to the poor…"_ She remembered André´s words.

When she finally got home, André came to her…"I´m glad your injury was not that serious. If only you had waited a little until I returned…" he didn´t get a chance to finish his sentence, when Oscar started yelling at him.

"Where were you, André?" she was angry. "How dare you see somebody behind my back?!"

André was dumbfounded. He? Seen a woman? That was impossible. He could never do something like that. He had had a crush once, but that was before he even met Oscar. But after that? No. Had he thought about it? Yes, but he soon realized that it was impossible. How could he ever be with anybody else, when he always thought about her? His eyes could only see her, his mind was full of her; his body was aching only for her. He could never imagine being with someone he doesn´t love. But for her he could do anything. She was his life.

"Oscar?" he didn´t know what to reply. "Who is she? Do I know her?" she asked him. Her voice was so angry and as if…if he didn´t know better, he would almost think that she was jealous.

"There´s no one, Oscar. There never has been…"

"But where…"

"You are right, I wasn´t just taking a ride. I went to a certain place…many times, but it´s not what you think" he started to explain. "I´ll take you there tonight, so that you will see for yourself"

She calmed down as she heard his words. She was relieved to hear that there was no one…But why she had acted like that? Wasn´t he just a man with feelings? He, too, was entitled to search for his happiness. So, why would it surprise her if he would have been interested in some woman? As if she herself was interested in him…Oscar was raised as a man and she would live her life according to that. She didn´t need anyone.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

That night Oscar and André rode near to a small church…

"That small church is where I come for horse riding. Don´t be surprised when you go inside. There are nobles and farmers inside, all willing to know about the new age to come" he told her and took her inside. The place was full of people listening to the man in front of them. The priest was talking about the new age that was coming…

"Right now, 97 % of the French people"…"farmers, merchants, artisans, and all those who are not nobles. Those 97% suffer from heavy taxes and can´t afford bread every day. Who is using these taxes?! That´s the remaining 3 %, the nobility!"…

While listening to the priest, Oscar realized how much did the people of France really suffer. She had closed her eyes from it for too long. Far too long. The words echoed in her ears…"God created all people equal"

On their way back André started to talk…

"What should I call it, a study group? It´s held two or three times a week in that church. I thought I was insensitive and an optimist until recently. But even someone like me can hear it…The sound of the new age, thundering. I was raised in a house of an aristocrat and I´m working for the aristocrats. But I am not a noble. At least, I have the right to know what the new age is like…that´s how I feel…"

She just listened to him without saying a word. She couldn´t.

That night she couldn´t sleep. She was thinking about the evening and what the priest and André had said. Painfully, she had to admit, that they were right. There was a distinction between commoners and nobles…and not just that…As much as she liked her Majesty, she had to admit that she had never really thought about her own people. People of France, who suffered of hunger, while the queen ordered fancy dresses and danced in the balls at their expense. But she was no better…she was part of the nobles, who had too many privileges…

And Fersen? There were times she had admired him. Even thought she loved him, but now…she knew he had started a love affair with a married woman, and not just any woman, but the queen of France. And that wasn´t enough; he had multiple lovers all over Europe…what kind of a man he really was, when he wasn´t even able to control himself?

Oscar´s thoughts then wandered back to André. What if he had had a woman? What would she had done, if he had gone away? With whom she could talk to? With whom she could practice fencing? And shooting? With whom she would ride? With whom she could joke? There was no one she could think of. It was André that had been with her all these years, helped her, supported her…he knew her better than anyone…and he loved her. "André" she whispered. His words came to her…

" _I was raised in a house of an aristocrat and I´m working for the aristocrats. But I am not a noble."_

She remembered his love confession

" _I could never even dream of becoming your husband"_

There was a law that denied the marriage between a noble and a commoner…But if the new age came _…_

…" _God created all people equal"_

The priest had said. "Is that the reason you go to…the study group to listen to the priest?" she thought "is that the reason you´re interested in the new age?"

"I never knew…I never realized how important you were…I always took you for granted, but…I don´t know anything anymore…Tell me, André. What am I suppose to do?"

She got up. She just couldn´t sleep. She put her clothes on "Some fresh air might help" she thought and headed outside. It was completely dark, but she could walk easily because she knew the area well. All of a sudden she heard noises coming from the stables and she hurried towards it. "Who´s there?!" she yelled. There was no reply. But she knew someone was there, so she went inside…

"André?" she whispered as she saw a figure facing his back towards her. It was dark, so that it was difficult to clearly see the man.

"No….Mademoiselle…" he replied

Oscar smiled "André is playing again…Fine, I play along. Just this once…" she thought. It was just a sudden madness from her side. Why would she otherwise play these romantic games with André?

André had hit his mask and costume in the stables after the ball, but hadn´t had a chance to retrieve those before. Somehow he had been unable to sleep that night, and so he had thought he would finally get rid of those ridiculous things and had come to the stables. Only a moment before Oscar had come in, he had tried those on one more time. Only to memorize the ball, but now…he was in trouble. He was scared that Oscar might recognize him. He wanted to get out of the situation as fast as he could.

"Is it you? My admirer?" she asked.

There was a moment of silence. "What should I do? If only I wasn´t wearing this…" he thought. He couldn´t be himself in that outfit. So he had to take the part of "her admirer "once more…

"What´s your name?" she asked.

"Mademoiselle…" he had changed his voice again…"My name…doesn´t matter. I´m…not…worthy of you…" he came towards her. He knew he was risking revealing his identity, but…he couldn´t resist. He had been dreaming about this for a long time, and now…she was here, so close to him. He walked towards her "But, Mademoiselle…"he started, took her into his embrace and kissed her passionately.

"I love you"

For some reason she didn´t resist. In fact, she was kissing him back. But why? He didn´t think about that. He just got more exited and deepened his kisses.

"I would do anything for you"

His body started to feel warm as he embraced her tightly. She put her arms around his waist. She wasn´t really thinking of what she was doing, she just couldn´t resist his kisses…He was very happy. Just once he could forget about their difference in class.

Then, suddenly she felt something pressing on her waist…and she got scared and froze. She knew that it was his…manly part. As soon as he noticed it, he let her go. He was all red. "I´m terribly sorry…Mademoiselle" he was embarrassed. Then he left leaving her all alone. She was shocked. She had never felt that…

She stood still for some time, she just couldn´t move. Then, the door opened and André came in carrying a lantern. He had quickly changed into his normal wear. "Oscar!" he said "I saw you coming here in the middle of the night and I was worried" he told her. "What are you doing here?" he asked, but there was no reply. She was still unable to speak. "Oscar? Are you alright?" he was ashamed of his actions. He had frightened her. Luckily, he had been able to calm down. Over the years he had learned a quick way to do it. Now, he could act normally.

"André" she managed to say. He took her hand "Come on, Oscar. I´ll take you to back to the mansion" and he let the way. He escorted Oscar back to her room, said goodnight and left. But now Oscar was even more awake. How could she sleep after that incident? She was surprised by his sudden…behavior, but she was even more surprised of her own action: she had let André caress her. But she should have pushed André away. That was it, she had decided; no more flirting or romance with him.

In the morning she called André into her room. She didn´t mention anything about last night. As soon as André walked in, she started talking about the Black Knight. She was persistent of catching him and she suggested a false Black Knight to lure the real…

"Yeah…you, André"

"What?! I´m not going to do it! I´m not going to burglar into mansions…"

"It´s just a play, André"

"No!"

"You are quite similar to the Black Knight. We just need to cut your hair…"

"Leave my hair alone! It´s not like your hair! It doesn´t fall nicely, when it´s cut…"

"André!" she looked at him suspiciously "Don´t you want to help me?"

"…"

"I see!" she said and got up from her chair. Then she walked towards the costume she had specially had tailored "I´ll then be the Black Knight…"

"What?" he screamed "But you´re blond! And a woman! Your body build is different!"

"And?" she asked him.

"Fine!" he looked at her. He guessed he had no other choice but to say yes. "I´ll do it. I´ll cut my hair…" he took the scissors and cut his hair. Then he took off his jacket and started to change his clothes, just to try the costume on. Oscar went to the balcony to wait. She didn´t want to see him, even half naked. Not after last night. "Last night…Just forget about it, Oscar" she told herself.

"Oscar" she heard André´s voice. She turned to look and there he was; duplicate of the Black Knight. He looked just like the real one, even so that she would think it´s the Black Knight himself if she didn´t know better. "How do I look?"

"Amazing!" she smiled. She must have looked at him for a long time, because he then came towards her asking if there was something troubling her. "What?" she was painstakingly aware of his closeness and she got all red.

"Oscar" he looked concerned "is everything fine? Last night…" he wanted to ask if she had been shocked about…but he had to be careful not to reveal his identity…"what happened? Were you hurt?"

"No!" she denied "I'm fine! That is…"

"Were you there with someone?"

"Yes…with my lover…" she was shocked by her own words "No! I mean! My…A man, who…likes me…" she corrected.

"Really?" he asked with his tender voice "did he scare you?"

"No…I just never…" she was embarrassed "been in that kind of a situation…"

"Me neither…" he whispered.

"What?" she asked.

"Nothing"

"I don´t want to talk about it. It…can never happen again…"She told him. He just nodded. It was embarrassing for him, too. He was happy that she wasn´t hurt. That was the last thing he wanted. It was time for him to end this masquerade anyway. He had done enough.

"Mademoiselle Oscar!" they heard André´s grandmother calling. She had a letter in her hand "It´s from your sister!" she yelled. "Mademoiselle Lulu is coming for a visit!" She explained.

"Oh no!" André thought. He knew that Loulou had the tendency to stick her nose into everyone else´s business. What if Lulu would find his costume?


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

Oscar was sitting in her chair reading a love letter she had kept hidden inside of a book. It was the first love letter she had ever received. She had already read it a few times, but she didn´t know what to reply. She should have been angry, but instead she had lost her words…

All of a sudden André rushed inside her room without knocking. "Oscar…" he started but couldn´t finish his sentence. He was looking pale. Oscar lifted her gaze up towards him "André" she said and smiled. "What in the World has happened to you, so that you forgot to knock on the door?" she joked. "Oscar…" his face was serious. Only then she realized that he wasn´t joking. Her smile faded away. Had something awful happened? She looked at André waiting for him to continue. "I don´t know, how to say this to you, but…"

A moment of silence passed between his words…

" There´s a boy here…who…says his father…is…Reynier de Jarjayes…"

"What?!" she got up and dropped her book onto the floor without even noticing it. Her mind was occupied by André´s strange announcement. A boy whose father is Reynier de Jarjayes?! Could it be true?! She immediately rushed out of her room, followed by André. Loulou, who had been standing in the corridor near Oscar´s room, saw her aunt and André running by and was about to follow them, when she saw a book lying on the floor in Oscar´s room. So she walked near it. But when she was about to lifted it, a letter fell onto the floor. "What´s that?" she thought while she opened it.

The letter started with apologetic words and then continued to ask whether she was fine…

"…I just couldn´t control myself when I held you in arms caressing you, the woman of my dreams…" there were some words she didn´t know, because she was still learning to read "…every time our lips meet I feel something burning deep inside me…" Loulou´s eyes became wide open of shock reading the letter. It was very sensual. Even when she couldn´t recognize all the words, she immediately knew it was an obvious love letter. And addressed to, who else but to; her aunt Oscar. Her curiosity was enormous; so enormous that she had to continue reading…

"…every time I look into your Sapphire eyes and smell the scent of your golden hair…" Loulou stopped reading it and folded the letter. Maybe she was too young to read it further…"André!" she thought as she put the letter inside her doll. She smiled suspiciously "you´re caught!"

Meantime Oscar and André got close to the staircase…As Oscar was half way on the stairs, she saw the boy. He was around ten years of age, and he had light brown hair and a tender figure. So, it was true: there was a boy claiming to be her brother just like André had said. "Father, what is this?!" she asked the general and then turned to look at the boy once more. "Brother…" she said. The boy introduced himself as Mauritz.

It was very awkward moment. Everybody was there at the entrance; Oscar´s parents, André and his grandmother, and even Rosalie. And also Loulou had joined them. They all stood still while listening the boy´s tale. " My mother told this address…the address of my father…and asked me to move in…"

Silence reigned the room.

Until it was broken by the general´s loud voice. He denied everything, of course. He seemed very surprised and confused.

"Did you know that my mother died…" said the boy suddenly.

That was enough to cause André's grandmother to faint. The poor boy told tears in his eyes that his mother had passed away and that he had nowhere else to go to. After saying that, he fainted out of exhaustion.

André took his grandmother into his arms and carried her into her room to rest. While Oscar carried the boy into her own room to rest. She sat down on her couch and let Mauritz rest on her lap.

As Oscar watched Mauritz sleeping, she was thinking about the whole event. Who was this boy exactly? And why did he say that his father is Reynier de Jarjayes? Was it true? She felt sorry for the boy, who had just lost his mother. But she felt sorry for her own mother as well. Oscar couldn´t even imagine what her mother was going through right now. Especially today…

Why this had to happen today? Today of all days, it had to happen on the day of Madame de Jarjayes birthday. With the house full of quests… When everyone had been busy from early morning onwards, and the day wasn´t even near the end.

André was busy fetching water, carrying wood for the fireplace and cleaning up the stables, while his grandmother was recovering from the shock in her bed. As he was giving water to the horses, his thoughts wandered to the costume that was still hidden there. He hadn´t had time to get rid of it, and now he had to be extra careful because Oscar´s nosy niece was staying at the manor. He didn´t want to risk it of getting caught. As much as he would like to carry on flirting with Oscar, he knew he needed to end it.

But André couldn´t help thinking how wonderful these past few days had been. It had been so unrealistic, like his dream coming true: he had been flirting with the woman he loved and he had even confessed his feelings towards her. He had never expected to go this far, and he had to admit, it would be difficult to stop…"just once in a lifetime…once…" Oh, how he wanted to continue, but…

only if he could, he would go to the general to ask Oscar´s hand in marriage, but…"what am I thinking about?" it was impossible. He could never do that… Oscar´s father would never accept him. All he had was his dreams.

He knew it was best just to get rid of the costume and continue his life as if nothing had happened. He just needed to suppress his feelings as he had been doing before. The sacrifice was worth it, because living his life next to her made him happy. Even if he could never be publicly with her, at least he could be close to her and share everything with her. Well, almost everything…His worst nightmare would be to get caught by this and thrown out so that he would never see her again. With that he couldn´t go on living.

Suddenly, his thoughts were interrupted. "André!" he heard a familiar voice calling him and he turned around to look; it was no other than Loulou, who stepped into the stables. "You dropped something earlier" she said to him holding a letter in her hands. For his shock it was the letter he had written for Oscar. His heart almost stopped.

"Where did you get it?!"

"I´ve told you, you dropped it"

"That´s not mine…"

"Oh, really?!" she smiled, opened the letter and started reading it "…how I yearn for your caress…"

Suddenly André took it from her hand "you read it! "He scolded her "Loulou, has nobody told you not to read other people´s letters?! Especially those not meant for children!" there was anger and despair in his voice.

"I´m not a child anymore! I am already 8 years old!"

"When I was 8 years old, I knew nothing of those sorts of things. I had just got here and started working…"

André was definitely changing the subject, but Loulou wasn´t satisfied "Do you think that you can conquer my aunt Oscar with your sweet words? Or with your kisses? She´s a noble and you´re just a commoner! You could never marry her!"

"Loulou! How do you even know that I wrote the letter? There´s no name on it. And there´s no name on the recipient either!" he tried to convince her.

"Because there is no name, I know it´s yours! You wouldn´t dare to write your name on it!" she persisted. "Say, André. What happened between you and Aunt Oscar? What did you do to her?" she asked him, but luckily for André…

At that instant someone called Loulou. It was André´s grandmother, who had come back to work. "Mademoiselle Loulou! Would you go and play with Mauritz" she asked her. "Yes" Loulou yelled and ran away.

"Thank goodness she left. But, if she tells her suspicious to Oscar…then I´m ruined"

The day went by fast doing house chores. Because of Madame´s birthday, there was no time to discuss the matter of Mauritz that day, so he helped André and his grandmother with their chores during the party. But even when he was busy, André couldn´t help worrying about getting caught. And that wasn´t the only worry he had; the times had become more hostile to nobles and naturally he was concerned of Oscar´s safety.

Oscar, too, was deep in her thoughts. About everything that had happened. Even when André went to greed her, she was in her thoughts. Oscar was standing by her window watching as Mauritz was playing together with Loulou. And André stood by her side. They were talking about the possibility of Mauritz being her brother…

"If this Mauritz is really your brother, then… "André said "I think that when a husband makes wedding vow to his wife, he shouldn´t go sleeping with someone else. There is no excuse. " he then turned and walked towards the door.

"André…"

But suddenly he stopped and turned around. "I almost forgot." he started and walked towards Oscar "Loulou found this letter…" he then gave the letter to Oscar. He didn´t notice that her hands were shaking.

"Loulou?" she asked and looked concerned "I´ll talk to her…" she couldn´t look into his eyes, because she felt embarrassed thinking about the words in his letter.

"I´ve already talked to her and scolded her about reading someone else´s letters…" he tried to smile "that girl really has a huge imagination" he was nervous. He was about to continue his explanation, but he couldn´t get the words out of his mouth…Maybe Loulou hasn´t told her anything.

Oscar just smiled shyly without saying a word.

"Oh, and one other thing…" he changed the subject and put his hand into his pocket. "this was left on the staircase of the entrance this morning, and I thought it´s meant for you" he then took a necklace with a little wooden heart.

"It´s beautiful" she said when she saw it "do you think he did this?" it was full of tiny little details that were carved beautifully.

"I believe so." he smiled. He had made that heart a few years ago during his free time meaning to give it to her one day, but then he had realized it that the shape was too romantic, so he had kept it in his chest of drawers.

She took a hold of her hair and lifted it with her hand "will you put it on my neck" she told him as she turned her back on him. He didn´t say anything, but just put the necklace on her.

As she turned around he said "it suites you well" smiling slightly.

She couldn´t say anything. She just stared at him, blushing.

"well…I should go back to work." he smiled again "this day has been a mess" he said as he walked out of the room.

Yes, it had been. And how would it turn to be?

When the night came, Oscar couldn´t sleep. There were lots of things on her mind. What if Mauritz really was her brother? How things would go from now on? She was only turning and turning in her bed, so she got up, walked to the other room and lighted some candles. Soon, there was a knock on the door.

But who could it be this late at night?


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

"Who could it be at this time of the night?" she thought and went to open the door. For her surprise, it was her mother. Oscar had forgotten about her. It was her mother that this matter hurt the most. "Mother…" Oscar started and looked sad "come in"

"I saw lights in your room and thought to come to talk to you" she said as she walked inside and sat on her chair. Oscar closed the door and followed her "could I offer you some wine?" she asked. "No, thank you. I came here, because I need to talk to you about something…" but before she could finish, Oscar interrupted her. "I´m so sorry…This whole thing about father…" she couldn´t find the words…"this must be painful…"

"No, not at all" was her reply. That made Oscar shocked. She stared at her mother for a while wanting to ask the reason. "I believe in your father" her mother continued, smiling.

"You mean…you don´t think that Mauritz is his son?"

"No." she smiled again "I´ve known your father since we were young, and believe me, he has lots of faults, but this isn´t one of those. He could never cheat on me."

"So, you´re saying that Mauritz is lying? He seems so sincere. "

"I´m sure he has some kind of a reason. But I´m sure we can find out the truth soon enough. And that he will find his real father." she looked at Oscar and she noticed something different there. Her eyes caught the sight of a beautiful necklace, a beautiful little wooden heart.

"André gave it to me" Oscar said when she noticed her mother´s wondering look "Mother, you wanted to talk to me…"

"Yes." Madame de Jarjayes got up from the chair and walked towards the window. She looked sad. "I´m sorry" she started. It was very difficult for her, but she had to say it. She had been keeping this inside her for so long. But now was the time to talk…"When you were born, your father was expecting a boy, but…I should have stopped his stupid plan of raising you as a boy. I knew you had hard time learning everything and playing by his rules. He forced you into something you were not." Oscar was silent. What was she talking about?" I kept quiet, but now…Oscar, you´ve been living a hard life. I never once questioned my husband, but I should have. I should have given you the life what you deserve. A life of a woman."

"I´m happy, mother…"

"Are you?" she turned to look at her "You were such a happy child. Always running about, playing with André" she smiled "There was a lot of laughter in this house" she memorized "But when you grew up, you´ve been only working. Never had the time for laughter anymore" As Oscar was about to interrupt her, she quickly said "I think that deep inside you you´re questioning, whether you´re a woman or a man."

"Mother…" That last sentence was something that Oscar wasn´t expecting.

"I never taught you womanly things…that´s why you´re insecure…" she walked towards Oscar "today I saw you with Mauritz, when he was quietly sleeping on your lap. You looked so calm and happy. Just like a mother would with her child…you do have a motherly instinct." she told her. Oscar was shocked. Why would she say something like that? "You´ve always come along well with children…" she said "have you ever thought of…having your own?..."

"Mother!" Oscar was even more shocked. Children? No. She never had even thought of marrying…

"I´ve seen you lately. I´ve noticed that you´ve changed. Something has been bothering you. And you probably think that if Mauritzt really would be your brother, then you would be free to finally be…"

She didn´t have time to finish her sentence, when Oscar suddenly yelled "Mother! I…I don´t want to become a woman! Think of me as leading the life similar to my sister´s! Me wearing a dress, attending social events night after night, just looking pretty…"

"No, Oscar. I could never imagine you like that."

"Then what…"

"You don´t need to wear a dress in order to be a woman"

"But…every woman is wearing a dress."

"You´re not. Have you ever heard that one needs to wear a dress in order to fulfill the requirements of a woman?"

"No…"

"You don´t need to change. If you don´t want to go to the balls or wear dresses, then don´t"

"Then what do you mean?"

"I´ve been watching you for a while, because I was concerned. I thought something awful had been happening, but…Oscar…is it possible that…are you in love?"

"What? !That´s the most stupid thing I´ve ever heard!"

"There is someone, isn´t there?"

"Why are you asking?"

"Because you´re my daughter, and precious to me. I want you to be happy. I…well…" she stopped for a while. Oscar had never heard her mother talking like that. "Please, Oscar. Do you have something to tell me?" Oscar was confused. "I don´t understand." she asked her mother. "I´m talking about André, of course." "André! " suddenly Oscar´s heart skipped a beat. "You´ve always been so close, so I guess I should have known. Only recently I have been starting to think that maybe there´s more between you two...more than friendship… I noticed that especially after the way you´ve changed."

"Changed?!…I haven´t changed!"

"Really?" Madame de Jarjayes smiled "lately you have been forgetting things, blushing…and every time you´re near him, you just stare at him and when he turns to you, you quickly turn away. " she started to tell "Few months back you wouldn´t have behaved like that. But now…you´ve starting to see him with different eyes…"

"Was that so obvious?" Oscar thought while fiddling with her new necklace. "Well…that´s because…"should she tell her? She wasn´t sure, but then again, her mother did know a lot already. "He confessed his feelings towards me…"

"And what do you think?"

"I don´t know…I´m confused." Why these sudden questions? She had hardly time to figure things out by herself.

Madame took Oscar´s hand into hers and said "let you tell you something, if he is the one who makes you happy, then I´ll give you my blessing" she smiled "I just want the best for you. He knows you better than anyone and loves you more than anything, right? He loves you just the way you are. Oscar, does he make you feel like a woman?"

"Yes…" wait a minute. What was she saying? That wasn´t exactly what she wanted to say "but…" she corrected.

"But?"

"First of all, he isn´t…he isn´t noble. My father would never accept him…"

"Is it bothering you that he isn´t noble?"

"Of course not! but… I´m not planning of getting married. I just want to concentrate on my career"

"Of course, but at the same time you accept his gifts…"

"But he has always given me things…"

"It´s a bit different thing accepting gifts from a man, who has confessed to you." Madame smiled " and that heart shaped necklace was made out of love" she started to walk towards the door…"I think you´re enjoying his attention" It was then, when she saw a book on Oscar´s table. As read the title "Die Leiden des Jungen Werthers", she smiled…"I see…" It was obvious to her; her daughter was ready to…"I think you wonder what is it like to be loved by a man? Giving you gifts and saying sweet things to you… To be a center of a man´s attention. I´m sure that you have dreamed about it, at least once…"

"Mother…"she was all red.

"I understand…" she then remembered her own youth; and how eager had her suitor been. Her eyes became radiant with the wonderful memories of the time, when she first met her husband.

"Mother…I…do like him…but…I´m not ready…to…"

"I see…well. You know how I feel. I am on your side, whatever happens. I came here, because now is the right time to act, but…it´s getting late, so good night." she walked to the door and was about to open it, when Oscar stopped her.

"Tell me what you came here to tell."

"Oscar, you are right. You have your career…"

"Mother. Tell me."

"Well…I only though that if you wanted to convince your father, now would be a good time to do it."

"Why?"

"Because of this little scandal" Madame had been working at Versailles for so long, that she knew how the gossips worked. Even though she had never used them for her own benefit. But maybe now, just this once. For the sake of her daughter´s happiness…

"But mother! You said yourself you didn´t believe that father would actually do something like that!"

"I know he didn´t. But he doesn´t know that, does he." This was the first time that Oscar's mother was doing something against her husband´s will "I know him so well, that I know there´s one thing he fears the most: rumors. He doesn´t want any bad rumors about neither himself nor his family…"

"What? Are you going to blackmail him?"Oscar was surprised.

"Well…only if you have wanted…"

"What?"

"Think about it, if he had to make a choice…which do you think would ruin his reputation more? The fact that he has a illegitimate son and his wife is unhappy, or that his daughter wants to marry a commoner?"

"Well…I would bet on the first one…"

"Exactly." she smiled "good night, my dear. And think about it. This matter is so ridiculous that it won´t take long before this is solved. And then it will be too late trying to convince him…" before she shut the door behind her, she whispered "you know that you can always come to me if you have any questions about…love. First time is always exiting."

"First time?"

Oscar was speechless. And red. "First time?" But…Would her mother really go against her father for her? This was the first time she´d do anything like that…only for her happiness? But…what was happiness?

"What is love?"

Oscar started to memorize her past…

She remembered the night, when she had delivered a message to Fersen from her Majesty´s request. She didn´t even remember how many times she had had to involve in their affairs. Once she had even gone to the Palace only to dance with her Majesty in order to silence the gossips that were circling around about Her Majesty and Fersen. And that night it was a secret message she had delivered to Fersen. It had been raining, but when she was returning home, André had been there waiting for her. He had given her her cloak so that she wouldn´t get wet. He hadn´t said anything, but only smiled. He had such a warm smile. Was that love?

"André"

Suddenly tears started to roll down her cheeks when she thought the day André nearly lost his life. He had been accused of causing the riding accident, and he was sentenced to death. He was already in front of the King, when she had arrived. Only just she had managed to safe him. Thanks to count Fersen and the dauphine the King had spared him. But what if he would have died? What would she have done? How could she live without him? She shook her head…

Oscar remembered André´s teary eyes as if he was right in front of her. "André" She had said she did it because of his grandmother, but was it really because of him? But it wasn´t just her saving him, but he, too, had saved her. It had happened years later, when she was chasing Rosalie´s sister into an old convent. She went there alone, and would have died unless André hadn´t come for her. But how had he known that she had been in trouble? She had been calling his name, but the distance had been so great that it had been impossible for him to hear, but…But he had come. How had he known? She had never thought about that, but…now…

As if they had a connection…a bound between them…

She wiped her tears from her cheeks "anyway" she though " I need to decide…" and took the necklace in her hand " I don´t know if I can be at Her Majesty´s side long…the people are suffering" but that wasn´t the only thought; she also needed to decide what to do with André…


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7**

Maurizt stayed with de Jarjayes family, but he was kept away from the curious eyes. His existence was a secret. Oscar´s father engaged himself into work and avoided his family as much as he could. And he didn´t want even to see the boy. He had told them the truth and there was nothing to add. They knew they needed to find the truth behind Maurizt fast…

André was the one, who went to Paris to look for further information about the boy´s past and to look for his real father. André´s absence suited Oscar just fine.

The next few days Oscar tried her best to avoid thinking about André. But that proved to be difficult; after all he was her valet and when all of a sudden he wasn´t companying her, that raised questions. Everyone was eager to know, what had happened. "He took some time off from work" she answered them. At the palace she could concentrate on her duties, but at home it was different. It seemed that everything and everyone was reminding of him…

As she was enjoining her cup of tea in her balcony, Loulou came to her. When Oscar asked what was the matter, she just told her she was bored. She had used to André´s presence.

"how lucky you are, Aunt Oscar" she said.

"What do you mean?"

"Well, you have André all by yourself"

"That´s…" she was blushing "he´s my servant. That´s all!" it seemed as she was defending herself.

"Really?" she questioned.

Oscar just nodded.

"But he is still handsome" she argued "I like him better than count von Fersen"

Oscar was shocked. Did Loulou know about her feeling towards Fersen?! No, that was impossible. She had never told anyone about it. Well, except for André…

"I wish I had a lover like him!" she was dreaming."Too bad that you cannot marry him…"

"Loulou!" Oscar came to. How could she say those things?! She was only a child.

"When I grow up, I want to get married" she started telling about her dreams.

"You have plenty of time before that"

"I know, but I don´t want to end as an old maiden like you"

"Loulou!" André´s grandmother came to scold her. "You mustn't say those things about our lady Oscar!"

"But it´s the truth!" she argued and ran away.

"I´m sorry mademoiselle"

"It´s all right" she said …"it´s alright" but was it? What if Loulou thought that André was her lover?"No" she shook her head. She was too young to even know about those things.

"I wish André was here to keep an eye on the children" she sighed.

"Not André, again!" Oscar thought.

But that wasn´t end of her suffering because later in the evening, when her father came to dinner, he was expecting André to serve him. But instead, a servant, who was still quite new, placed the food on the table, in the wrong way. The general watched the servant for awhile, and then asked "where´s André?!" he had accustomed that everything was in its place, and this new comer still didn´t know anything. "Where is he, when I need him? He can serve the dinner!" he yelled.

"Well, he´s not here!" Oscar yelled and left the dining room.

"What´s with her?" the general asked his wife. She just shook her head.

Later, Maurizt came into her room. "Why are you sad?" he asked her.

"I´m not sad, I´m just…"

"Do you miss your friend?" he asked.

"No, it´s…" she tried to deny it.

"Look" he said and showed his hand. There was a tin solder "he gave me this"

"How nice of him" she smiled. She remembered all too well the time, when she and he played with those tin soldiers…

Meanwhile André had found himself company; he had been listening to one of the speeches Bernard Chatelet had given and he was more than impressed, so he went to talk to him. They found many common interests and talked for many hours. "Why don´t you join us?" Bernard asked André, but he refused. "Why not? You're a servant. You have no time for yourself. You live amongst the nobles, and yet you are treated different than them…" he started.

"No. I…am treated very well. I get enough money, delicious food…and…"

"But you have no freedom. If you want to get married, or…"

"No, I don´t. I´m happy the way I am. I…never even considered the possibility, besides…I don´t mind if I don´t have much free time…" André tried to explain.

"Why?" he questioned him "you are but a young and healthy man…most of men of your age are already married…"

"…"

"Unless…" a sudden thought came into his mind.

"Unless what?"

"That lady de Jarjayes is quite good looking, if you like that kind of women…Say,you´re not…interested in her, are you?"

"…"

"I see…So, that´s why"

"Bernard…"

"Don´t worry! I´m not going to spill the beans!" he laughed, but then he noticed the time " But it´s getting rather late…but…"

"What is it?"

"I was living with some friends, but…" it started to be rather difficult to lead a double life…"I don´t know, if I can go there…" Bernard said. Only a few days ago he was almost caught, and he didn´t want to risk it again.

"There´s a friend of ours living in Paris, she might let you stay in her house for a few days. Her name is Rosalie."

As André made a new friend and searched every lead there was about Maurizt, Oscar started to feel lonely…It had been few days already, but she hadn´t heard from him. But when the night came…

She was just about to go to bed, when she heard a voice calling her…"My mademoiselle Oscar"

It came from the balcony, so she headed that way, but saw only a shadow. It was him…pretending to be her admirer…

"What are you doing here?" she asked. She was angry, because it has been days since she last saw him. He hadn´t contacted her.

"I wanted to check if everything was alright, mademoiselle. You haven´t reply to my letter…" he was happy to see her again. Even if it were only a few days, but he still had missed her.

"What do you want me to say?!" she was tired "Besides you didn´t exactly leave your address" she was tired of playing that stupid game. As if she didn´t know who he was. And she was tired of…being alone?

"I just need to know that you`re ok" he replied.

"Why don´t you just leave me alone!" she yelled."Get out of my head" she thought to herself.

All of a sudden he just grabbed her into his arms and kissed her.

She had to catch her breath. Why were his kisses…so…burning?

"I´m sorry" he said when he let her go"I don´t know what came over me…" he knew alright. He just wanted to hold her in his arms.

"Please…" she started "you can´t…we can´t…do this. It´s not right." she said tears in her eyes.

"I know" he said with a melancholic tone. He knew better than anyone that this masquerade should come to an end, but he had been avoiding it, until now"…Just one last kiss. Then I´ll never bother you again"

For his surprised, it was her, who kissed him…"I've missed you so much" she thought.

"Goodbye, milady. I'll always love you" he whispered into her ear and then he left.

On the next day André came back. He told all about his time with Rosalie and Bernard. "They seemed to be attracted to each other" he had noticed. He had also found some information about Maurizt mother, but still there wasn´t enough clues to tell the name of his father. "We´ll keep looking" Oscar had replied. Now that André was back, and her "admirer" was gone, everything seemed to go back into their place, but…

One night…

Oscar couldn´t sleep. She was still thinking about him. The words of her mother´s still echoed in her mind…

"… _if he is the one who makes you happy, then I´ll give you my blessing…"_

"Oh, mother. I wish it would be that simple…" she thought. There was no point for her to even try to sleep, so she got dressed and went downstairs to get another book to read. Maybe that would keep her mind occupied. She quietly entered the study and closed the door behind her. As she stepped towards the bookshelf to reach for a book, the door opened. It was her father.

"Father, couldn´t you sleep?" she asked him with a little bit of insinuation in her voice. He just stared at her looking frustrated.

"Mauritz…" Oscar started but she was interrupted by her father "Shut up!" he yelled angrily. "You, too, believe that…"

"…"

It was right that moment, when Madame de Jarjayes walked into the room shutting the door behind her. "Did I interrupt something?" she asked curiously.

"We weren´t talking about anything important" the General answered.

"Nothing important?!" Oscar thought. Wasn´t it important to help poor Mauritz? He had just lost his mother and was looking for his father. Wasn´t that important?! Oscar got angry.

"Father" she tried to calm herself "what about Mauritz?" she asked him.

"Not again! I haven´t done anything wrong! That bastard isn´t my son!" he yelled "For Christ sake! I would never…"

"Never what?"

"He is a commoner! His mother was a commoner! What do you think I would start an affair with a commoner?!" he yelled at Oscar.

Oscar was shocked. How could he say something like that? As if commoners didn´t mean anything…

"Oh, I see…" Oscar´s mother started. Her voice was calm and collected, as if she was planning something…"So you would start an affair with a noble?"

"What?!" he yelled "I didn´t mean it like that!" he tried to defend himself.

"Really? How can I be sure?" she asked.

It was the first time that the general didn´t know what to reply to his wife. What had gotten into her? Normally she wouldn´t be like that. She had never questioned him before.

"Father" Oscar needed to know…"isn´t commoners like us? Don´t they deserve to be treated like us?" she questioned him.

What was going on in his daughter´s mind right that moment? Why would she ask something like that? She perfectly well knew the answer…"No" he started "people were born into different estates, because of reason" he continued "a king is born a king, and to rule his kingdom he needs nobles, like us, to serve him…" then he continued to commoners, like peasants who provided food for the king and for the nobles. For him, it was important for nobles to have servants to show their wealth…That was it. Oscar had enough. "What about André?!" she asked "Did you let him come here, so that you would show how wealthy you were? And perhaps show how compassioned you could be by letting an orphan boy from the country side to live here?!"

Why this conversation now went to André? The general had no idea. "I asked André´s grandmother to bring the boy here to be your guardian. Who knows what might had happened to you in the military if you didn´t have someone to protect you!" he started to be annoyed by this questioning.

"So, you think I couldn´t manage on my own?!" Oscar was now more upset than ever.

"You were born a girl! And even raised as a boy, you are still physically weaker than man! And that gives them a change to hurt you!"

"André…" Oscar started, but …

"André is our servant, and your valet. He is here for your protection. I gave him home, food and clothing. And for that he will protect you whatever the cost. "

Did her father really think André only as servant, who owes his life for them?! Nothing more?! Now she exploded.

"André isn´t just someone, who protects me or brings my tea" she yelled "he is my best friend" she was tired of her father seeing André like that, as if he meant nothing "I grew up with him!"

"But commoner is still a commoner!" her father explained "even if he grew up with you, he is not like you!"

How could he say that?!

André was her companion, with whom she had shared both good and bad moments. It´s with him that she had spend most of her time. Her father hadn´t been around much. So how could her father think of him like that?! Oscar remembered what her mother had told her not long ago " _He loves you just the way you are_." And she had been right. _He_ didn´t judge people by their class they were born into, but rather by their nature and personality. And it was _he_ who seemed to love her unconditionally, and he would never leave her…Right?

Her eyes suddenly got wide opened and her heart jumped into her throat…

She was surprised of her emotions…

Because…

…It was then, when she realized that she loved him, too. They were the same.

Just that moment a loud noise came from outside. Something must have happened. The general was about to go and have a look, when Oscar suddenly said…

"Father, I want to marry…" words she had never thought of saying, escaped from her mouth without her thinking further…

"What?!" he was surprised. Ever since Oscar was born, she was raised to become a general. There was never talk about marriage. If she would marry, it would mean the end of her career. "Naturally. A pregnant woman couldn´t lead a military life" thought the general.

He turned towards Oscar. "What´s this all about?" he asked her. "Why all of a sudden bringing this up?"

"I´m in love and I want to marry…"

Well, now! His daughter was in love? Really?!What a pleasant surprise! She was the only one of his daughters, who fell in love and _wanted_ to marry. The other daughters had to be forced into marrying. He had thought of Oscar continuing his career, but now…It would be even better if she would give birth to a boy, a real successor of his lineage. And it would be even better if the man Oscar loved, was a rich duke or a count. It would make their family even more powerful. He smiled.

"So, Oscar. Who is it? Is he a duke?"

"No"

"Baron?"

"No"

"Count?"

"No, father" she started to get bored with this…"It´s André" she answered.

Oscar and her mother watched the face of her father, waiting for some sort of sign of anger. But, no. That didn´t come. Instead, he stayed quiet for a while, before answering…

"Oscar, this is no time for jokes"

"This isn´t a joke, father. I want to marry André"

"Have you lost your mind?!" he yelled. "He is our stableman!"

"We know that, dear. There´s no reason for raising your voice" Madame replied.

"Did you know about this?!" His face was deep red from anger.

"Yes, I did. And I gave them my blessing."

"What?! How dare you! You have no right to do that! Not behind my back! I´m the master here!"… he started "I brought him into the manor to work, not to seduce my daughter!" the day had started badly, but it was only going to get even worse. First, there was this accusation about him being the father to a bastard son, and now, his daughter wanted to marry their stableman! "What a nightmare" He thought and started to look for his pistol. He had to end this nonsense once and for all, and if it meant blood, so beat it. He thought.


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8**

"She´s my child, too. Unlike your son" his wife interrupted him.

"Woman! How many times do I have to tell you, that he isn´t my son!"

"I don´t know about that… Maybe His Majesty will know"

"…"

"What?!" he lowered his voice.

"I´m going to His Majesty right now to ask his advice." she started talking while walking towards the door." I´m sure he´s on my side on this, after all, he, too, is victim of cheating. He´ll understand me…"

That did the trick. By mentioning His Majesty, the general calmed down. "Look, think about this. I haven´t done a thing. There´s no reason for you to go to His Majesty…" He tried to convince his wife.

"You´re not going to change my mind. I´m leaving right now…"

"Wait!" he yelled "isn´t there something I could do?" he started to be desperate "to make you change your mind?"

"Well…there is one thing…"

"What´s that?!"

"No…" she hesitated "It´s best to go to see the King…"

"I´ll do anything!" he finally managed to say.

"Really?"

"Yes, anything"

"Let our daughter marry the man she wants"

He looked at his wife angrily, but said nothing. She had him. There was no other choice, but to do as they asked him to. "This is pure blackmail!" he yelled. He walked to his desk, put paper on it, took the ink and dipped his quill into it. Then he wrote a letter, where he gave his approval for his daughter, Oscar François de Jarjayes to marry a commoner, André Grandier. After that he wrote a second letter, for André Grandier. It was a recommendation for him. With that, André could start looking for a new job. Because after this he wasn´t welcome at the manor…

"This doesn´t mean, that I approve this marriage" he said, while giving the letters to Oscar. He then started to walk out of the room. But before he opened the door, he turned around once more "from now on I have only five daughters. When I wake up tomorrow, you´d better be gone…and take your stableman with you!" After saying that, he left the room.

Oscar and Madame looked at each other´s eyes. It was an emotional moment. Tears fell down on their cheeks. Something, something dramatic had happened. Her whole life was about to change…

"What have I done?" Oscar questioned herself. She had never believed she would have said something like that to her father…

Then, all of a sudden André rushed in with both Loulou and Mauritz "Madame" he said "and Oscar."

"Has something happened?" Madame asked.

André instantly saw Oscar´s troubled expression on her face and the tears. "Oscar!" he panicked and walked beside her "What happened? What´s wrong?" he was worried.

"My daughter is just happy" Madame answered.

"Happy?" André was confused.

"Yes, André" Oscar finally managed to reply. Then, she smiled to him blushing lightly.

"André. Tell us, what has happened. We heard some noise just a while ago."

"Yes, Madame. Just a moment ago…there was an incident…" he had difficulties speaking, because he couldn´t stop worrying about Oscar…" It does look like that there has been a mistake about your husband, my master. Apparently he is not the father of Mauritz, but some other nobleman…There has been some sort of a mixed up with names…"

"And does my husband already know about this?" she asked.

"No, Madame. That incident happened just a moment ago, outside…"

"I see…" she got worried. "Oscar, there´s not much time left" she said. Oscar nodded. She knew exactly what to do.

"André, would you take the children and put them to bed" he nodded "and after that, come to my room"

"Yes" he said hesitating for awhile, but then left the room with the children. He sensed that something had happened between his Oscar and her father. he knew he needed to hurry to Oscar.

After they left, Oscar and her mother were alone again "My sweetheart" Madame went to her daughter and told her "let me tell you about love…"

Oscar blushed "that´s not necessary…"

"You are excited, aren´t you? Being with André? I know I was with your father…"

"No. I don't want to hear anything!" Oscar panicked.

"at least let me give you some advice…"

Oscar was more than embarrassed. Hearing these things from her own mother…not long after her mother had started, Oscar stopped her "why don´t you give advices to André as well" she said without even thinking. She just wanted to get rid of this situation as fast as she could.

"He doesn´t need my advices. Men know these things…"

"How?…I mean…" she started to regret the question as soon as it had come out of her mouth.

"Well, they like to play with it with their hands. It´s quite natural…it´s to get to know that part of their body and that calms them down…"

That was enough. Oscar rushed to the door only saying good night and left her mother alone in the room.

" _Play with their hands_?" Oscar had never heard of that "… _with it_?", but it was enough she thought as she walked upstairs. She went to her room…

She shook her head "Just forget about it"

Little bit later André came into her room "Oscar" he asked "tell me, what´s wrong"

"Nothing…"

"But….Why…why did you call me here? In the middle of the night? Did you want something?"

She blushed. "It´s now or never" she thought. "André" she walked towards the window and gazed outside…"Ever since we were little, you have been there for me. Always by my side protecting me…"

André was astounded. Why would she talk that way? And now?

"André…I need you" she turned to look at him. Her gaze was something he had never seen before; she looked so vulnerable.

"will you promise you´ll be with me…always?"

André was silent. What was that all about?

"André…never leave me alone…never go away…" she continued.

When she didn´t hear his reply, she raised her voice and looked at him "Promise that you´ll never leave me! "

"What´s this? All of a sudden?" he was curious…By the look on her face, he knew she was serious. "Where would I go? I have no place to go" he answered.

"André!" she looked at him with anxiety.

"Don´t worry, I´m not going anywhere…" he smiled "I´ll be with you until I die" he swore. But what was going on? Why Oscar was behaving like that? "But what´s all this?" He went near her and looked deep into her eyes. His voice was tender, when he spoke to her "What is the matter with you? During last days you have been behaving strangely. I begin to worry about you…"

He was so close to her and she was very aware of that. She could almost hear his heart beat. Suddenly she felt weak in her knees. What was going on? She didn´t know herself…

"I know your secret…"she blushed.

"Secret?"

She took the necklace into her hand "you´re the one who made this"

He just stayed silent and swallowed. How could she know that?

"And this letter…" she showed it to him "you wrote it" He knew he was in trouble.

"Oscar…" his heart was beating fast. It was no good denying it. This was the moment he had been waiting for…and afraid of…"Yes, it´s true" he started and " I love you" he had kept silent for all those years, but now he decided finally to break it "Ever since I came to live here, I´ve felt as if I belong here. First I was shocked, partly because losing everything, my home, my mother, my friends, and partly because…"

She was curious "partly of what?"

"Because of you" he smiled "my grandmother had told me I was to protect a beautiful lady, and …well, I had imagined you a bit different"

Oscar laughed, when she remembered his shocked face all those years ago "he had probably expected a more traditional girl…"she thought. "At the time I thought I was a boy…I really did." she smiled.

André was amazed by her reaction. Why was she laughing? Why wasn´t she angry? Could be that…"No" he thought, but then again…Could it be that she…had feelings for him? Even though of it made his heart almost stop.

He continued to talk, because he was nervous of what she would say…"But soon after getting to know you, I learned how good heart you had. You treated me just like everybody else, as if we were of the same class…" he smiled when he remembered their childhood days" During time that friendship deepened and you became my best friend…"

Then he stopped for awhile. "But at some point I realized that it wasn´t just friendship on my part…I had fallen in love with you…I don´t know exactly when it happened, because I´ve been in love with you for so long. " He lowered his voice "As long as I remember…"

"Five years?"

He shook his head "much longer…more than ten years…no, almost twenty…"

He just wanted to keep talking. He was nervous and afraid that she might reject him…But she interrupted him…

"André…I love you"

"…"

"I can´t do anything by myself…I´m selfish and difficult to deal with, but…even so, will you love me?! Me alone? For the rest of your life?!"

"…"

"Do you swear to love me…only me… for the rest of your life?!"

Could this be real? Was this just one of his dreams? His endless dreams where she responded to his feelings? He wasn´t sure yet, but he knew only that he couldn´t hold himself back any longer. He was so touched that he couldn´t help crying. Tears just fell down, and when he looked into her eyes, he saw the same tears in hers…without words he took her into his embrace.

"André!"

"Do you want me to swear thousand times? Or ten thousand times? I have only one thing to say…"

Her heart was beating fast as she listened to his sweet words…God, it felt so good to be in his warm embrace, and just listen to his tender voice.

"…Do you want me to risk my life once more? Oscar, you are everything to me…" he caressed her cheeks with his hands and she lifted her gaze into his eyes…"there´s only one answer…"

"I love you…"

"I´m glad that I was born…"

"Oh, I have dreamed about this moment for a long time…" he though "let this moment last forever…or frozen in sepia-coloured painting…"

They couldn't wait any longer. Their lips met and they threw themselves into deep and passionate kiss.

"André …" she started after the kiss "there´s something I need to tell you" she told him everything that happened between her and her father; about the argument and that they had to leave, but before that…she didn´t want to wait…

"Tonight…I want to become your wife…" she avoided his gaze, because she felt embarrassed.

"…"

Was this what he thought it was? André went on his knees in front of her "You mean, you´ll…you´ll be mine?"

She nodded blushing shyly.

"But I have nothing to offer…no name, no title…nor fortune…I really have nothing"

"…how we´re going to live…"

"André…" she ensured "it´s not about a name or money, but…happiness…I couldn´t be happier…" she stopped for awhile to catch her breath "to be loved by a man with a gentle heart is much more than any woman can wish for…"

"Oscar" her words went deep into his heart. He had never heard anything so beautiful.

André got up and hugged her from behind. She could feel his warm body caressing her gently…and she knew that he was more than ready…

"André, I'm scared" she suddenly turned towards him.

"Oscar, don´t be afraid" he looked into her eyes and smiled gently."I´ve waited long enough…Oscar…please, don´t make me wait longer…"

Then she remembered that incident at the stables. First it had her scared, but now she felt…Excited?

She smiled shyly "I´ll be yours".

This was a dream come true. He couldn´t wait any longer. Oh, how he had longed for her…he just took her into his arms and carried her into the bedroom. Then he put her gently on her bed and after that tthey both took their clothes off.

It was a magical moment; André stood by the bed and looked at the woman of his dreams lying there. And even if it was a bit dark, he could see her feminine figures she had always kept hidden. She was so beautiful…like a Goddess. And in the candlelight her skin looked so warm and soft…

She looked at his naked body…he was so…so attractive…and so…virile…when she noticed that his manly part was ready, she blushed…she was a bit anxious, but she felt weird sensations inside her, sensations she had never felt before, sensations of wanting to be with him…she knew she was ready for him…and then she remembered her mother´s advices "give him everything. Don´t hold back" and spread her legs…"Relax"

He laid down beside her and their eyes met. They smiled to each other. That smile was something new, it was so tender but at the same time it was…needy? Perhaps it was her way of telling him that she was ready…

They kissed each other…Oh, how he would have wanted to kiss her more, and everywhere, to caress her, to get to know her body, but he just couldn´t wait…he was already excited and he just wanted to…he needed her…he had been waiting for so many years, only dreaming about this moment…He didn´t want this moment to slip away.

"I love you, Oscar" he whispered and gently joined her…it was the most amazing that ever had happened to him. Even in his wildest dreams he couldn´t have imagined this. …now he knew what was it like to be inside of a woman…she was so soft and warm…and wet…as he advanced, he looked into her eyes…he felt as if he was drowning into deep sapphire coloured ocean…suddenly tears started to come down his cheeks, and he wasn´t the only one: they cried together…those were tears of happiness…

"I love you too, André"

Their bodies were now one, as their souls had been for so long already. They shared this sensitive moment together for the first time as they had shared so many things before…

Now he was glad he had listened, when his friend had told him of how to be with a woman, he had never thought that he would need his advice, but now…she was there, in his arms…making love…

They made love with such a tenderness and passion…"from now on I will give you everything" she whispered. She had never imagined making love was so beautiful…

"Oscar" he looked into her eyes and gently spoke to her "do you remember that day in spring?..." he started talking about the happy moments they had shared in their childhood…

"You were always there…we were always together like Castor and Pollux"

Just like the twin stars, Oscar and André were destined to be together.

"Never to separate…"

"André"

"Oscar"

They whispered each other´s names as they ascended together to Heaven.

After they had parted, she fell in sleep in his arms. But he couldn´t sleep. He just looked at the beauty lying next to him. He was thinking of how lucky he was. And not just lucky, but happy. Right then he felt as he was the happiest man on Earth. He smiled as he caressed her hair. And she was smiling in her dreams. This was exactly what he had always wanted…

"Oscar" he thought "I´ll never leave you, my love"

As the first rays of sunlight started to appear in the sky, André knew it was time for them to leave soon…The new life awaited them somewhere…


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9**

As the carriage drove further from the manor, Oscar looked back at her old home tears in her eyes. It was still early in the morning. Usually they wouldn´t have even be up yet, but today they had to leave before her father would wake up. This was the day; the first day of the rest of her life.

"Goodbye, father" She said in her mind, because she knew they couldn´t return. Not after what had happened. She was partly sad, because she was leaving her childhood home and her family, but partly happy and excited to start a new life. New life together with her André. Life where she didn´t have to pretend. Life where she would be free…

Life as a woman beside her husband…

She smiled.

"Lady Oscar…" cried André´s grandmother beside her "I hope I remembered everything…" While Oscar and André had been having their moment of love, Oscar´s mother and André´s grandmother had been busy packing everything they could possible think needed for the new life of the young couple. They packed a couple of chests full of things and got them taken into an old, but still working, carriage. The carriage and the chests were Madame de Jarjayes´ wedding gift for her daughter. Unfortunately, that was all she could give them. Along with some money, of course.

"Grandmother…" Oscar took her hand "call me Oscar" she smiled "we´re family now."

"Oh,lady…I mean…Oscar…" she was so touched.

"I wish your father would have been more understanding" said Madame de Jarjayes.

"It´s all right, mother" Oscar said "I´ve been thinking about this anyway…about moving away"

"I´m so happy that you and André finally found each other. All these years I´ve been worried about you being all by yourself…"

"Mother…"

Soon they were there; at the front of the Versailles´ Palace. This was it; the last thing that Oscar needed to do before leaving home for good. She needed to talk with the queen. It was right at that moment, when the carriage´s door opened. It was André. He had been driving the carriage. "Madame" he said and helped Oscar´s mother out, then Oscar and finally his grandmother.

"André, wait here" Oscar said and left together with her mother. She and Madame de Jarjayes went to meet Her Majesty, while André stayed near the carriage together with his grandmother. As soon as the ladies disappeared from their sight, André´s grandmother started to blame André.

"This is all your fault!" his grandmother said to him "it´s because of you that lady Oscar had to leave her home!" she yelled.

"…"

"Right now she would be enjoining her morning tea…" she continued.

"…" André stayed quiet. He knew she was right. This had happened because Oscar and he decided to be together, and…

He noticed that his grandmother´s handkerchief was already wet, so he gave her his…

"She´s now neglected and despised by her own father! Her own father, André!" she continued "And what about the rest of the nobles?!" she would have hit him if she had had a kettle in her hands "Will she ever be accepted among them again?!"

"Why did you do it?!" she asked him.

"Because I love her…" he answered with a low tone of voice "It has been hard for me, all these years to be close to her, never to say anything…waiting for someone else to claim her heart…" he said tears in his eyes.

"André…"

"I know, grandmother. I know that this won´t be easy, but I promise to do everything to make her happy. To protect her…" his eyes became even more teary.

"Oh, my dear André…"

While André and his grandmother continued talking, Oscar and her mother approached Her Majesty, who was in the garden admiring flowers.

When the queen saw the two ladies, she said "isn´t these flowers just so beautiful?"

"Yes, Your Highness. Very beautiful" but they weren´t there to talk about flowers. And the queen noticed that. And she turned towards them.

"Oscar and lady de Jarjayes" said the queen "what brings you here this early in the morning?"

"…" Oscar didn´t know, where to start. She had never asked any favor from Her Majesty. And this time it would be even harder. It was because she wanted so much.

"Your highness, my daughter has something important to tell…" Madame de Jarjayes helped her daughter.

"Yes?"

"Your Majesty" Oscar started "I have a request…"

"Of course, what is it?"

"It´s…" Oscar hesitated a while.

"Oscar, we´ve been friends for years. You can ask me anything." she smiled.

She asked if she could marry her servant André. "André?!" the queen was surprised. "Yes, André" Oscar replied and showed the letter her father had written. And also her mother spoke highly of them two.

"But…" the queen was surprised "why would you like to marry…a servant?" she wondered "you could have anybody…" But when Oscar explained how much André meant to her and how much she loved him, the queen started to think about Fersen. She became sad to think that she could never marry him, so she knew how awful it must be for Oscar not being able to marry the one she loved.

Oscar explained the argument she had with her father "he hates André and would never accept this…"

"It´s because he´s not noble…"

"Yes, You Majesty. But to me rank doesn´t mean a thing. He is just like me, we´ve shared the same house, eaten the same food…we´ve done everything together since childhood" she stopped for awhile before continuing…

"Tell me, Your Highness, why it isn´t allowed for a commoner to marry a noble?" she asked "André and I love each other very much. It´s because of this law, that forbids us to marry each other. It´s because of this law, that we will be denied of our happiness…"

"Happiness?" the queen thought. The only man, who could make herself happy, was someone she could never marry. "Aah" she sighed. If only she wasn´t married. "Fersen" she thought "we will never be able to be together legally, but…"

But at least Oscar could, because she wasn't married nor was André. There was no other obstacle for their love, only the law. Oscar just needed the permission to marry him. Her mind was made; "Ask His Majesty to sign marriage permission for Oscar François de Jarjayes and André Grandier. And then bring it to me" the queen said to a maid that was accompanying them. "Yes, Your Highness" answered the maid and left. Soon she came back and Oscar got the permission.

"Your Highness…" she was so touched that she was shivering "thank you so much…" she had never thought she could actually get the permission. But that was not all she needed…

"and…" Oscar continued "I hope Your Highness understands that I cannot no longer work at the Versailles. Because of my father…"

Oscar had long thought about taking some distance from the palace and from the royal couple. She had been raised to protect the people of France, but lately she had felt as if she had been doing just the opposite. As much as she cared about the queen and her children, she could no longer turn a blind eye for the sufferings of the people. She could no longer live a life that was granted only to the few, while the rest were starving. Now she had an excuse to do so; by marrying a commoner, she would be no more welcome to the palace. And perhaps she could request some other, a real job she never had. She had felt as if she had been mere puppet not being able to show her thru talent.

"I don´t think that neither he nor general Buoille will accept my marriage. And I wouldn´t want to…" She started and requested for transfer. "…my father will never accept André" she explained.

"I see…" said the queen "I´ll look for a new job for you, but it will take time and I cannot guarantee of what kind of a job it is". She understood Oscar´s request perfectly, but she was sad to let her go.

"Your Highness, I am glad to take any job available and I can wait"

"Very well, then." she started to walk towards the palace again "let´s get the ceremony started" she suggested. "We have a chapel right here, so why not use it. "Then she looked at Oscar and sighed "but your clothes…you need to change…"

"But, Your majesty…"

"I´m afraid that my daughter doesn´t have a single dress…"Madame de Jarjayes apologized.

"Of course…" the queen said smiling "You can borrow something from the palace. I´m sure there´s something that fits you." Nothing was going to stop her for arranging the wedding.

"Your highness, that´s more than I could ever dream of…" Oscar didn´t even have a chance to finish her sentence, when the queen was already rushing inside the palace.

"Let´s look something beautiful for you…"she shouted excited. She hadn´t attended to a wedding for a long time. Balls and weddings always cheered her up.

Meanwhile André and his grandmother had come to some sort of agreement. After all, they both thought the world of Lady Oscar. Of course his grandmother was happy for André, because she knew how much he loved Lady Oscar. But she had never dared to dream about him marrying her, after all they were from different class. But now…

His grandmother had just stopped crying, when she thought of her only grandson marrying her mademoiselle Oscar…

The two people she loved the most in this world, were getting married…

"André…" she burst into tears.

"Grandmother" André smiled. He knew she was shedding tears of happiness…He took her into his arms. "I love you."

Right at that moment, couple of servants came towards André "mister Grandier, come with us" they told him. "Mister Grandier?" André thought. Why were they calling him that? They were way above him hierarchically, so why using his last name? And "mister"? He tried to ask them, but they didn´t reply. They just said there´s no time to lose.

"It´s all right, André" his grandmother said. "You go ahead."

"I won´t be long" he assured her and followed the two men silently. "Why are you taking me here?" he asked as they entered into one of the rooms at the palace, but instead of an answer of what was going on, he got clothes from them.

"Put these on" they said leaving him alone in the room. The clothes were the finest he had ever worn.

As soon as he was dressed, he was taken into the chapel of the palace, which-for his surprise-was full of people, including the royal couple and his grandmother. He walked towards his grandmother to the front of the chapel. "What´s going on?" he asked her.

"Oh, André. It´s time…" He had never seen her like that, she was so emotional "your mother would have wanted you to have this" she said and gave something into his hand. When he opened his palm, he noticed a simple, but beautiful ring. It was a woman´s ring. "It was your mother´s wedding ring" she told him.

"Grandmother…" he looked into her teary eyes. He wanted to say something, but he didn´t have time, when he noticed that the people were gazing someone at the back of the chapel. He turned to look himself: it was Oscar…but…

She looked absolutely amazing…


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10**

He had never seen Oscar like that before. She was so amazingly beautiful in her dress. She was wearing a blue silky dress with white laces half covering her wrists, blue laces covering her feminine chest and the necklace framed her beautiful, long neck. Her hair was tight into a beautiful hairdo.

She was even more beautiful than she had been at the ball, where it all began…He still couldn´t believe how lucky he was. Just last evening he thought he could never confess his feelings for her, at least not as himself. But then last night… It had been so perfect. Just like a dream; She had told him that she loved him. And they had given everything to each other. He still could remember her loving gaze while she had been in his arms.

And now she was…

…she was stunning in that dress…and it was not just the dress, but her appearance as well…she was radiant and happy. Just as he was. And why wouldn´t he be: They were going to be married. He had no idea, how Oscar had managed to do it, but somehow she had convinced the king to give his blessing. "Oscar" he whispered. He had hard time breathing.

He couldn´t keep his eyes away from her, he was like enchanted at the front of a Goddess…

They smiled to each other as she stepped next to him. They were ready…

And the wedding ceremony started…

André still couldn´t believe this. The woman of his dreams was there right beside him. To become his wife. "His wife" even thought of that made him emotional. But now that they were front of everyone, he needed to calm down. But he still had difficulties stopping his tears.

Oscar gave him a smile. And he couldn´t help smiling back. They both were excited and happy. So happy, that it was overflowing, and at the end they both cried as they were announced husband and wife.

They were now legally Mister and Missus Grandier.

As soon as they signed all the documents, they quickly changed clothes and thanked the Royal couple for their kindness.

But then it was time for them to carry on. They couldn´t stay in Paris, so they decided to stay in the countryside for a while. Oscar wanted to wait for the information about her new assignment and in the meanwhile they could take it easy. She hadn´t had days off for a very long time, so she needed the break.

They were all standing near the carriage. André´s grandmother had already gone into the carriage. Because she was coming along with them, to teach them housekeeping, cooking and cleaning. All those necessary skills needed for running of a house, a family. And maybe, one day, she would teach them childcare…

She was looking through the window of the carriage as Oscar and André were saying goodbye to Madame de Jarjayes. The lady she had been serving for so long, even before she married general de Jarjayes . It was difficult for her to leave, but the young couple needed her more.

It was sentimental moment for everyone.

André thanked lady de Jarjayes for everything…"you´ve been like a family to me. You´ve always treated me well…" he remembered how warmly they had welcomed him to their home after his mother had died. And how they gave him education that only nobles were allowed- and more over: afford- to have. Of course, that was because he was accompanying their daughter everywhere. And he had; over the years Oscar and he had become inseparable. Even to that extend that he had fallen in love with her. But of course he knew the master would not tolerate it. Well, he didn´t. But Madame did, and that made him appreciate her even more.

"…and thank you for supporting us. It means a lot. I´ll never forget your kindness."

"André. Just promise you will take good care of my daughter." she smiled.

"I promise. I will protect her with my life." he said and walked towards the carriage.

"Mother, why don´t you come with us?" Oscar asked.

"Oh, no. I couldn´t do that. I couldn´t leave your father."

Oscar understood that well and said nothing. "Thank you for supporting me, mother. But why, why did you do it? You´ve never turned against my father…"

"My dear, don´t you realize it? Times are changing. For the better. People will be freer than before…" she smiled "your father and I represent something of the past, but you and André…you together can make better future for your children."

"Mother…"

"Go, my sweetheart. And live the way your heart tells you to."

"I love you, mother." then she embraced her mother.

"My love. It´s time to go." André told Oscar. "We´ll write to you" she said to her mother and rushed towards André.

André opened the carriage´s door for her, but she said she´d rather sit in front with him. "I´d like to sit next to my husband."

"Say that again"

"My husband" she flirted.

"Oh, how I love hearing that" he said, and then took her into his arms and kissed her passionately. He could never get tired of doing that.

"Oh, you two love birds! We really should be going!" grandmother yelled at them.

"Oh, sorry grandmother. " André turned towards her and asked "are you comfortable there by yourself?"

"Yes. I`ve got some knitting to do and Lady O…I mean, Oscar would only bother me…" she said so that Oscar wouldn´t have felt guilty leaving her alone. Besides, she knew what it was to be young and love. She still remembered how André´s grandfather had swept her off her feet.

" Alright, grandmother" André said and took Oscar to the front of the carriage. And their journey began.

While sitting next to André, Oscar was gazing the necklace he had given her. When he noticed that, he realized that she never explained…

"You never said, how did you recognize me?" André asked her…"How did you know it was me? Making that necklace…"

Oscar smiled:"Because of the kiss…"

"The kiss?" he wondered.

"Yes…Remember that night after the bar fight…you kissed me"

"I thought you were passed out…"

"No, I wasn´t. I just pretended to be…"

"So, you recognized me only because of that?"

"How could I not…At the ball, when you kissed me I remembered your passionate lips…"

"Well…" he smiled "Then I´m glad you were awake that night…"

"I´m sorry, André. That I ignored that." she said " I just wanted to pretend it never happened. I never questioned why you did it…I never knew about your feelings…until the night of the ball"

"But why didn´t you say something?"

"I wasn´t sure how I felt…"

"But you let me flirt with you"

"hmm…" …"you right…I did." She didn´t explain further, but maybe she knew deep inside her that she had longed for a passionate confession. Althought, she never had guessed it would be from André…

She wanted to change the subject …"but whatever happened to that costume of yours? And where did you get it from?" she was curious.

"I took it along, of course. It has a sentimental value now…" André smiled…Then he had an idea "Would you like to meet the people, who gave me the costume? Because I know for sure that they´d love to meet you"

"Alright" she replied "where do they live?"

"In the countryside. They inherited a rich man and moved there from Paris. I´m sure that they wouldn´t mind if we stayed with them for awhile. Until you get a reply from the queen."

She just smiled. Then she remembered the boy, who was searching for her father. In the midst of her love life she had complete forgotten about the boy…

"I wonder, will Mauritz find his real father?"

"I got the idea from last night that your father knows who he is"

"Really?"

"Apparently the man was using your father´s name…"

"I see…"

"The story goes…" André started as they drove further away from Versailles and Paris. They had a long way ahead of them…

When the evening came, they stopped for the night. They took two rooms in an inn; one for grandmother and the other for them. Their room was small, but cozy. Just perfect to spend their wedding night…

"Missus Grandier, how about a toast" he smiled as he took a bottle of finest champagne.

"Where did you get that?"

"Present from grandmother" he answered, poured it into cups and handed her one.

"To us" she said "to happiness" he replied.

After they had drunk the champagne, he started to undress her…and while he did that, he kissed her everywhere. She sighed as they fell on the bed. "André" she whispered…

"My Oscar"

"Now I want to undress you…"

He only smiled as a respond. How he had been dreaming about her undressing him. Her hands on his body…And there was no hurry…This time they had the whole night…

The candles shed dim light on the lovers as they softly made a mess of the bed…


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter 11**

Oscar woke up with a gentle kiss on her bare shoulder. When she opened her eyes, André was beside her, sitting next to her on the bed, smiling "good morning, my Oscar" he said and kissed her.

"Good morning, my André" she yawned.

"Did I wake you up?" he asked."I didn´t let you sleep last night…"

"It´s fine." she blushed "after all, it was our wedding night"

André looked at Oscar with his dreamy eyes.

"what?"

"Promise you won´t pinch me" he answered.

"Pinch you?"

"I feel as if this was a dream…and if it is, I don´t want to wake up"

She thought about the night before…"It´s better than fencing…" Oscar suddenly said blushing heavily.

"Yeah…much better" he smiled "I wonder if we keep practicing, we´ll get better and better…just like fencing"

"Hey!" she said "who said I need to practice fencing!"

They laughed.

"I brought you breakfast" he said. "Why don´t you start eating, while I make your bath ready" he smiled.

"Bath?"

"I thought after travelling and all…it would relax you" he answered. It wasn´t a habit of theirs to bathe often, but for some reason André just thought it would do Oscar good.

After Oscar had bathed, she noticed that André had already made everything ready for their journey."We have to get going if we´re going to get there before dark" he said. They still had a long way to go.

After travelling for almost the entire day, they finally reached their destination: they approached a small villa with other smaller houses surrounding it. Julie and Jean Valmot were standing at the yard wondering, who was coming so late at night to visit them.

Their surprise was huge, when they saw André with the company of two women.

"André!"

"I hope we´re not intruding…It´s just that you invited me to visit and…well" he explained …"here we are"

"Of course!" Sean replied "you and your…companions are always welcome!"

"Thank you"

André looked around. "Didn´t you say something like your former master left you and your family _a small house_ from the countryside?!" André asked. It wasn´t exactly small, not as André had imagined it; it was rather a small villa with couple of small houses surrounding it.

"Well" Sean started "my master didn´t have any children, so he had more money than we thought"

"And strange hobbies" André laughed.

…"André! André!" they heard a little girl yelling. It was little Ann, who was running from the house towards them. She looked happy and healthy, as always. She ran right into André´s arms. "André!" she said "you came!"

"Yes, I did" he smiled "How could I not visit my dear friends!"

"Ann" her mother told her "shouldn´t you be in bed at this time of the night?"

"But if I was in bed, I wouldn´t see André!" she argued.

"Don´t worry, I´ll be here tomorrow as well. Together with my family" he smiled and looked at Oscar.

"It´s her…" they recognized Oscar.

"Yes…she… she is my wife now"

André introduced Oscar and his grandmother.

"Nice to meet you" Oscar started "I´ve heard so much about you"

"Missus Grandier?" they were stunned.

Oscar nodded.

"…" they couldn´t believe their ears. André had accomplished the impossible. "Oh my God!" they yelled "this is a happy moment!" they said and shook the hands of the young couple "congratulations!"

"Thank you!" they replied unison.

"So you did take my advice and put on that costume…" Sean said.

"Yes, I did" André laughed "It was such a ridiculous idea that I never thought…never dreamed that it would work"

"Well, it did. Looks like my master did indeed do good" Sean smiled.

"…" little Ann was staring at Oscar with her eyes open."Wov!" little Ann said admiring Oscar "You´re beautiful!"

"Well, thank you" she smiled.

"Why are you dressed like a man?"

"Ann" André kneed down "Oscar has always dressed that way. It´s because she was raised as a boy"

"Why?"

"Because her parents couldn´t get a real boy"

…"you must be tired" Julie said interrupting her daughter for asking any more questions "you and your wife can stay in the house over there" she pointed them a small, but pretty house. "We can continue talking tomorrow" They knew that something must have happened, because André and his wife had been travelling all this way within a short period of time. And, of course, it was no wonder: many people, especially the nobles wouldn´t accept the marriage between a noble and a commoner. But André and his family was always welcome to visit them.

"And grandmother can take the other house"

"But it´s too much bother for you…"

"Nonsense!" Julie told her "let me introduce you to our house" she said while escorting grandmother. Ann ran after them "goodnight! André and Oscar!"

"Good night, Ann!"

"How´s your other children?" André asked.

"Phil is learning to read and Marcus is…well, you know him" Sean smiled "always getting into trouble"

"Just like us when we were children!" Oscar laughed. Her weariness didn´t spoil her good mood.

"Really?"

"Yeah. André and I got into a lot of trouble…And usually it was André who was blamed" she looked at her husband.

"It´s ok. After all it was my duty to protect you" he said smiling."Still is"

"André. There´s room for your horses at the stables. Give them some hay and water" he said.

Then they walked to the other house." This is yours. You can stay here as long as you want to" Sean said giving them the key. "Thank you so much, Sean. I´ll pay you" André thanked him. "Well, we can discuss about that in the morning" he answered, and after saying goodnight, Oscar and André were left alone. As soon as André had opened the door, Oscar walked right into the house leaving him to take the carriage to the stables, giving water to horses and then bring their luggage into the house.

As soon as he had done that, he returned to the house. But then he stopped at the front of it.

He was looking at the house, and admiring it. It was small, but comfortable and very pretty. Almost as good as their villa in Arras. "Almost" He thought. It was smaller, much smaller. And it was older and needed some work…He sighed. He was worried about whether Oscar would like it here. He had always known that he would never be able to provide the living standards she had accustomed to.

As he finally stepped inside and closed the door, he called her name. No answer. He put the luggage down.

"Oscar?" he asked again, but heard no answer. When he went to check on her, she was fast asleep on their bed. André walked towards her smiling "how tired you were" He thought and took her boots and her over coat off. Then he covered her with a blanket and took his clothes off.

"Good night, my love" he whispered and laid down beside her. Then he put his arms around her and fell in sleep. That night they slept like logs.

The next morning everything seemed to fell into the right place: They could stay as long as they wanted to, and they didn´t have to pay any rent, neither. Instead, André helped Sean to fix the houses, while grandmother taught cooking skills to both little Ann and Oscar. It was time for Ann to start to help her parents in the house, and grandmother was just a perfect guide for that.

During the days Oscar taught the boys fencing and shooting. And she was the best teacher they ever had. In the evenings Oscar taught the little girl to play violin, which she had brought along. Oscar seemed happy, and that warmed André´s heart. Finally she was able to relax.

Some weeks passed by quickly, and they were already starting to consider staying there permanently, but then…One day, Oscar received a letter from her mother…

"André!" she rushed to him. He was chopping firewood for the fireplace. But he stopped as soon as he saw his wife rushing towards him.

"Oscar? What´s the matter?"

"We need to go!"

"Go where?" he asked. She was looking anxious.

"My mother wrote to me and asked our help…"she started.

"Is it about your father?"

"No. It´s Loulou, she´s in a convent " she started to explain "My mother says it's been a while since she last time heard from Loulou and she is worried that something might have happened."

"What?! What is she doing in a convent in the first place?!"

"Apparently she met a woman, who told her that every woman should go to a convent before getting married…and then she just wouldn´t stop talking about going there herself…"

"Getting married?!" he was surprised "She´s just a child!"

"I know!"

"Loulou is as stubborn as you and your father!" André shook his head, but he knew how much his wife´s niece meant to the family, and to them."Alright, Oscar. I´ll get my pistol"

So, they left grandmother with the Valmots, and headed for the convent…


	12. Chapter 12

**Chapter 12**

At the San Margaret convent…

"Mademoiselle Loulou…" said the nun "I am terribly sorry sir, but she came here to concentrate fully on learning all the knowledge that a fine lady needs. And for that she needs peace and quiet, and she cannot be disturbed. "

"But she´s my niece!"…Oscar raised her voice…"We´ve got to see her!"

"No matter, she came specifically asking us to take her in and teach her. I'm sure you´ll understand…" she continued "but, of course, you can always write her a letter. I´ll make sure she´ll gets It." there was something about the expression on her face that made Oscar and André even more worried. She was definitely hiding something.

"Oscar" André whispered "we´re not going to get anything out of her. Let´s get out of here and figure out what we´re going to do next"

Oscar just nodded.

They soon settled into a room in a nearby inn. …

"Something has happened; otherwise they would have let us see Loulou"

"Hmm…" he agreed hugging his pillow.

While Oscar was walking around the room thinking about the next move, André said "Loulou must have found something out. Something she shouldn´t have. You know how she sticks her nose into other´s business…"

"You´re probably right…" she admitted. Then she remembered how her niece had interfered with her love life…but if she hadn´t said those words, then who knows…Oscar started to think how fool she had been for not noticing André before. For Loulou it must have seemed so obvious. She was the girl, who always knew everything, and that´s why she was in trouble now.

"Now I really hope that the Black Knight would burglar into the convent…" she muttered.

André suddenly interrupted Oscar…"Why we never chased him? You were so eager going after him. " he asked. After all, it had been many weeks since they even talked about the topic.

"I had decided not to go after him after all…"

He smiled "But didn´t you say that "a thief is a thief"?"

"Yes. I still, even now, think that steeling is wrong, but…"

"But?"

"The people are suffering…" within these past few weeks she had seen the real life of the people, and it was far from good. She had hoped she could do something for them, but she felt as if she was nothing against the giant wheels of history…"they don´t have much hope. …At least they have Black Knight" she sighed. God she had a golden heart, he thought. That was one of those things he loved about her so much.

"…and now we could use his skills…" she continued. Then she looked at André´s hair and remembered that she made him cut it…"I´m sorry you had to cut your hair"

"It´s all right." he threw the pillow away, got up and walked to her. "You know I´d do anything for you" he took her into his arms and smiled.

"Good!" she said "because you will go stand guard near the wall of the convent and watch their every move…" she smiled back.

"Ay ay, captain" he winked at her and was about to ready to leave, when she stopped him."André, don´t you forgetting something?" Of course, he walked back to her, took her hand into his, and kissed her.

"Be careful" she said when they departed. He just nodded and left.

As the night came André stood close to the entrance of the convent, watching closely anything and everyone…

He didn´t have to wait long, when he saw a man entering the convent. A man entering a convent for women? In the middle of the night? That was more than odd…so, he ran to his wife…

"Oscar"

"André"

He told her everything he saw…"I see…" answered Oscar…"what was Loulou thinking, when she went in there?" she wondered.

"Didn´t your mother explain it in more details?" André asked her.

"Not much. Only that Loulou was upset, when she had learned that we had gotten married without inviting her to the wedding…"

"I can imagine Loulou´s enchanted face when she would have seen you in that dress" he smiled. He had so wonderful memories about their wedding. She smiled back.

André put his arms around her "don´t worry, Oscar. We´ll get her out of there. I know it" he comforted her. "Let´s get some sleep, I´m sure she´s fine-for now. Just let´s wake up early in the morning to rescue her" he told her. He was probably right, besides there was no entry in the convent during the night, so they might as well rest.

"Come on, love" André said and took Oscar´s hand and guided her to the bed…

The next morning Oscar went inside the convent, again. This time she wasn´t about to leave until she got some answers. Of course she was told the same things than before, but Oscar was prepared for that, and just pretended to leave, but as soon as she was alone, she hit herself in the nearby corner…

Meanwhile André searched the surroundings…and he soon found a corkscrew, the same one that Loulou had kept inside her doll, and he picked it up. André imagined the scene in his head; Loulou had found something suspicious, so that she took the corkscrew out of her doll, in order to use it, when she was caught. It was clear that Loulou had been forced to leave in a hurry ...or, probably taken by someone…She must have been kept as a prisoner somewhere. Now he was certain that he had to get inside the convent somehow. Right at that moment he thought of Caesar, Oscar´s horse. If he took the horse near the wall and stood on top of it, he would be able to climb up, into the garden…

Meanwhile Oscar heard two nuns passing by…they were talking so intensely that it was easy for her to hide, and when they had passed by, she heard them talking something about the hidden room…So, she entered the nearby room, where the hidden room was to be found, then pressed the bookshelf there, and unlocked a hidden passage to a big room. It was full of accessories, expensive accessories, jewels, statues and artworks that was worthy of a fortune…

Oscar didn´t have time to think, when one of the nuns came in and saw Oscar…


	13. Chapter 13

**Chapter 13**

"what are you doing here…why…here?…" the nun was scared. Oscar had found their secrets…This was bad. Oscar had thought that she could snoop around without getting caught, by avoiding anyone who´d come across her, but now she had to figure another plan and she had to act quickly before the nun could call help, so she attacked her…

Oscar put a cloth into her mouth so that she could still breath, but not yell for help, then she undressed her and tight her up. With this nun´s dress Oscar could snoop around easily, so she put the dress on her own clothing …then she stepped into the hallway…

Meanwhile André had waited for the perfect moment to jump on to the other side of the wall and when he heard the bells rang, he saw the opportunity and jumped into the garden. He hit himself into the nearby pushes, when he saw two men carrying a valuable-looking chest. He waited for them to go inside, and then ran to the chest they had left near the entrance. When he opened it, he saw it was full of jewelries, art pieces and other valuable belongings. He didn´t have much time, when he heard them return, so he quickly ran into the pushes, again. The two men took the chest and carried it inside. André waited for awhile, but when he thought the men wouldn´t return, he came out and started to search the yard. It was then, when he saw Loulou lying on the ground…

"Loulou" he called her name and ran to her…

Meanwhile Oscar wandered around in the convent, but she was soon approached by two nuns…She covered her wedding ring with her other hand as the nuns came near. They called her by ´her´ name; they were obviously tricked by believing Oscar was the woman, she had just tight up…"Please, will you hurry…the divine service has already begun…" They asked her, and Oscar had no other choice but to follow them into the chapel…

She walked into the front of the chapel and saw that every young lady that had been chosen to study there-except for Loulou- was waiting for her to start… She looked at the book that was placed on the table in front of her. "Thank goodness it´s Latin" she thought. She had nothing to worry; after all she was excellent in the language. So she started to read…

At the same time André had gone to Loulou."Loulou, are you alright?" André whispered to her. "André!" she yelled. He told her to lower her voice and then he asked her what she had been doing. She said there´s no time for explanations, because there was going to be an explosion soon…

"Explosion?!"

"Oscar!" André yelled, took Loulou into his arms and ran into the convent…

Meanwhile in the convent…

As Oscar was reading, two men ran into the chapel. She knew they had found out the truth and was ready to fight, but all of a sudden she heard an explosion, and everybody panicked. "André! Loulou!" she thought. They were somewhere near, and she needed to find them. She ran into the corridor and saw how everyone was leaving the building. Then she saw her husband and Loulou and ran towards them.

"André!" she yelled.

The voice was familiar, but…the outfit? Could it be…"Oscar?!" André stopped, and let go off Loulou, who ran outside. "Oscar?" he thought he was seen things, but that woman in the nun´s dress was really his wife…He was stunned for awhile, but then smiled. "Am I so lousy in bed that you´ve decided to become a nun?" he joked.

"heh heh" Oscar answered "very funny" as she took the outfit off of her.

"Let´s get out of here" he said and took her hand. When they reached the garden, they saw that the men were about to leave, but André ran to stop them. He hit one of them, but the man hit him harder back and he fell. Oscar ran to help André, but the men had already gone into their carriage.

"André! Are you alright?!" she asked him as she kneeled down to him.

"I´m fine" right at that moment they witnessed the breaking down of the carriage, quickly ran towards it, attacked the men, and tight them up. "What a peculiar moment for the carriage to break down, don´t you think?" they asked Loulou. "And the explosion. We assume it was your doing?"

"Well, what else should I have supposed to do?" she asked them holding her favorite doll. A bald doll…"Bald doll?" Where her hair had gone? "Loulou!" you have a lot to explain!" Oscar was angry. Loulou had put herself in danger when she had gone into a place like that. Thank God she was alright.

They saw the whole convent was in flames. With the fire, the treasures were destroyed, too. The young women, who had been kept logged up in a basement, were released and safe. They approached the three, and when they explained what had happened, both Oscar and André were shocked by the horrors they had been through, and thanked God that Loulou had been clever enough to safe them.

After they took care of the men and the nun´s that had ran the convent, Oscar, André and Loulou returned to their room in the nearby inn. Loulou explained, how she was caught, when she was snooping around in the convent in the middle of the night. She had found out that they were carrying expensive things there during that night. She had then been thrown into a basement, where she had met the young women. They had told her that the people, who ran the convent, had been selling them with huge profits.

"So that´s why all the art pieces and stuff…" Oscar got angry "How dare they…" she wanted to swear, but Loulou was there, so she let out every bad word she knew, in Latin.

"I'm glad that´s all over now. The culprits are behind bars and the poor women are now free." André said "Oscar" he said to his wife "I´d like to help them to get decent jobs"

Oscar nodded "let´s do that, my André"

"This is what we fight against" she told him. The more Oscar saw the world, the more convinced she was that something needed to be changed. Completely and forever. She felt sorry for these poor women. How can people sell human beings?! How terrible. How wrong. Luckily, Loulou was not harmed.

Loulou then continued her story by telling, how she had managed to get out of the basement. She had used the hair of her doll as a rope she climbed up to the window. The hair, of course, had made of sturdy stuff. She was indeed the niece of Oscar; she was brave and clever when it came to rescuing herself and others in the tight situations.

"I believe this is yours" André said to Loulou and gave her her corkscrew back. Loulou had all sorts of things stuffed into her doll. She was prepared for everything. She even had the gunpowder there, with which she used to explode the convent.

"You two are probably hungry from all the excitement today…" André said and went to get some food for them.

Loulou stared at her aunt for a while.

"why didn´t you invite me to your wedding?!" Loulou asked her aunt as they were left alone.

"It all happened so fast" Oscar explained…"if we had known, we would have invited you, and Maurizt, and everyone…"

"Did you know that he finally found his father?" Loulou said.

"Yes, mother wrote to me…"

"He has finally started to get use to his new home…and family; his stepmother and his step sisters and brothers…"

"That´s good." Oscar smiled. At least someone had a happy ending.

"Are you happy now?" Loulou asked her aunt "with André?"

"Yes, I am" Oscar smiled."Very happy" She was the luckiest woman on Earth to have such a gentle man, who loved her unconditionally and stood by her side, always.

"Let me see your ring" Loulou asked with excitement. But when she saw it, she sighed "it´s so…tiny and…old-fashioned." she looked disappointed.

"Well, that´s because it belonged to André´s mother and his father didn´t have much money to buy an expensive ring…" Oscar had never met his mother, but she thought she must have been very kind and lovely person…Oscar said…"you know, Loulou, André´s mother married her husband, André´s father, for love. And they said to be very happy…They loved each other, and they loved André." she smiled "So, compared to all the expensive rings in world, this one is the most valuable, because it has such a lovely history and the wearer was a very close to us. A very special person."

"Wow!" Loulou was amazed…"I want to get married for love, too!" she was excited.

"Someday…but in the meanwhile…" Oscar was about to continue, when Loulou interrupted her. "So it´s a family heirloom! Does that mean that someday your son will give this ring to his beloved one?" Oscar was surprised by that question. She really haven´t thought of children, at least not that seriously…

"I hope so…" André smiled. He had come back with the food. "Now, let´s eat." After they had eaten, the couple took their niece to her own room, where she fell in sleep right away. And no wonder; it had been a very exciting day. After that, Oscar and André went back into their room…

André took Oscar into his arms "I love, my Oscar" he whispered into her ear.

"I love you, too… My André" she answered and then she kissed him…

"About that son…"André started…"our son…"

"How do you know? It could be a daughter…" Oscar blushed…"I mean…someday…"

"Yeah…someday. A boy…or a girl…" he smiled…

On the next day they went to say goodbye to the young woman, who had become a friend of Loulou´s. They had arranged her a job at a dressmaker´s, and they were walking her there while talking.

She was full of hope about the future. She said that there was a young man, who had been talking to the people, convincing them that one day they would all become equal. That women didn´t have to suffer. They would all have the same rights, and that there would be bread for everyone…

"Is his name, by any chance; Bernard Chatelet?" Oscar asked the young woman.

"How did you know?" she answered "Yes, he´s…"

"Here" they heard a voice saying. It was none other than their old acquaintance Bernard…

"Bernard?!"


	14. Chapter 14

**Chapter 14**

"Bernard?!"

"André?!" He was surprised to see him. And with his master. "Oscar François de Jarjayes…"

"Actually it´s Grandier…"

"What?!" Bernard was surprised.

"We are now husband and wife"

These two were married?! "Really?!" That was surprising. He had never thought this day would happen. These two? A commoner and a noble? And all this time he thought that Oscar was just like those toy soldiers; doing exactly what she was told to. "Well, I have to change my opinion about you. I thought you were a puppet at the Versailles Palace, obeying the king …But now…Marrying a commoner?!"

"Hmm" Oscar admitted. Looking back few months she could have never guessed this.

"What about your parents? Your father? General de Jarjayes? I´m sure he´s not happy about this…"

"No, he´s not…"

"…In fact, he kicked us out." André continued "We have been living with my friends for a while now…"

Meanwhile everyone was talking; Loulou just kept staring at Bernard."You know, mister…" she said to him "you look a lot like André…" Only then Oscar looked at Bernard straight into his eyes, she really looked at him…"When I think about it, André reminds me of…the Black Knight?" she thought to herself. She had met him before; she had been so close to him at one point. At the ball that night, when this all had started. At one point she had really wanted to catch the Black Knight, but things just had gotten in the way.

When she measured Bernard with her eyes, she could imagine him being the Black Knight; the same body built and the same high. She didn´t even pay attention of what they were talking about, until Bernard mentioned Rosalie´s name…

"…yeah, that´s right. We´re married now."

"You and Rosalie?" he shouted happily "Married?! Congratulations!"

"Congratulations" Oscar said "you take good care of Rosalie. She´s like a sister to me."

"Thank you, I will. Why don´t you come to our house to greet her…"

"We´d love to, but we have to take my niece back home before she gets into trouble…" Oscar said. She didn´t say anything about her suspicions. Was Bernard the Black Knight? Even if he was, this was no time to think about it. They had to get Loulou home, because everyone was missing her.

"…again" André continued, looking at Loulou.

After saying goodbyes, Oscar and André took Loulou to their former home, to Oscar´s mother. She was so happy to have her granddaughter back, unharmed…

"Why don´t you two come home." Madame de Jarjayes asked them. They had been away for a long time, now. She missed them, everybody missed them.

"But what about father?" Oscar asked.

"He´ll come around, when he hears that you saved Loulou. I´m sure he wouldn´t mind taking you back…"

"Thank you, mother. But André s grandmother is still..."

"We ll bring her back, I promise" her mother answered.

And so they returned to their home to their family.

The End.


	15. Chapter 15

**Alternate ending**

 **Chapter 14**

"Bernard?!"

"André?!" He was surprised to see him. And with his master. "Oscar François de Jarjayes…"

"Actually it´s Grandier…"

"What?!" Bernard was surprised.

"We are now husband and wife"

These two were married?! "Really?!" That was surprising. He had never thought this day would happen. These two? A commoner and a noble? And all this time he thought that Oscar was just like those toy soldiers; doing exactly what she was told to. "Well, I have to change my opinion about you. I thought you were a puppet at the Versailles Palace, obeying the king …But now…Marrying a commoner?!"

"Hmm" Oscar admitted. Looking back few months she could have never guessed this.

"What about your parents? Your father? General de Jarjayes? I´m sure he´s not happy about this…"

"No, he´s not…"

"…In fact, he kicked us out." André continued "We have been living with my friends for a while now…"

Meanwhile everyone was talking; Loulou just kept staring at Bernard."You know, mister…" she said to him "you look a lot like André…" Only then Oscar looked at Bernard straight into his eyes, she really looked at him…"When I think about it, André reminds me of…the Black Knight?" she thought to herself. She had met him before; she had been so close to him at one point. At the ball that night, when this all had started. At one point she had really wanted to catch the Black Knight, but things just had gotten in the way.

When she measured Bernard with her eyes, she could imagine him being the Black Knight; the same body built and the same high. She didn´t even pay attention of what they were talking about, until Bernard mentioned Rosalie´s name…

"…yeah, that´s right. We´re married now."

"You and Rosalie?" he shouted happily "Married?! Congratulations!"

"Congratulations" Oscar said "you take good care of Rosalie. She´s like a sister to me."

"Thank you, I will. Why don´t you come to our house to greet her…"

"We´d love to, but we have to take my niece back home before she gets into trouble…" Oscar said. She didn´t say anything about her suspicions. Was Bernard the Black Knight? Even if he was, this was no time to think about it. They had to get Loulou home, because everyone was missing her.

"…again" André continued, looking at Loulou.

After saying goodbyes, Oscar and André took Loulou to their former home, to Oscar´s mother. She was so happy to have her granddaughter back, unharmed…

"Why don´t you two come home." Madame de Jarjayes asked them. They had been away for a long time, now. She missed them, everybody missed them.

"But what about father?" Oscar asked.

"He´ll come around, when he hears that you saved Loulou. I´m sure he wouldn´t mind taking you back…"

"Thank you, mother. But I can´t…"

"Why?"

"I don´t know…One time this life would have been enough. Me serving the Royal couple, living my life as the way father would have wanted…But now everything is different."

Missus Jarjayes put her hand on Oscar´s "My dear, I understand. You need more time."

"Thank you"

As they were leaving, Oscar´s mother said to her "When you are ready to solve things with your father, I will support you."

"Thank you, mother" she replied and hugged her. She almost never hugged her mother, but this time it was different. She was sentimental, in a sad way. As if she knew something terrible was about to happen. But she didn´t know, what. Everything had changed.

That feeling made her quiet. On their way she just rode on her horse without saying a word.

André:"Why don´t we go to Paris" he wanted to cheer her up.

Oscar:"Paris? Why?"

André:"I´m hungry. We still have long way back home. We should get some rest before going back. We could go to the tavern we used to go …and relax. The food there isn´t bad."

She smiled "You´re always hungry!"

"Is that a deal?"

She just nodded smiling. Rest would do her good, too. And maybe the bad feeling would go away. Maybe she just was tired, that´s all.

After they had paid the room, they stayed downstairs to have a late dinner. Even though it was late already, there were still people eating and drinking. They headed for the one and only empty table left and sat down.

While sitting at a table, Oscar heard some men talking next to their table…

"It´s him, again."

"You mean the Black Knight?"

"Yeah. He broke into a manor last night…"

Not again! That Black Knight was really bothering her. She had though already a long ago to do something about the matter, but then things turned unexpectedly and she forgot all about the Black Knight. But now that she was back, she wanted to finish the issue once and for all.

"Oscar…what´s wrong?" She woke up from her thoughts.

" I need to talk with Bernard" Oscar thought, got up from her chair and headed towards the door.

"Wait, Oscar?! Where are you going?!" he rushed after her. "What´s the matter?"

"It´s Bernard" she told him.

"Bernard?" he was confused. Why, all of a sudden, would she think about Bernard? And what was the urgency to see him at this time, late in the evening?

"He did invite us, so let's go" she just said without giving an explanation.

"But I haven´t finished my dinner!"

But she didn´t hear it, because she was far away, already. She was so concentrated on her getting some answers that she didn´t notice André was falling behind. As she got on her horse, couple of men approached André from the behind and knocked him unconscious. Her bad feeling was about to come true…

Oscar rode as fast as she could to Bernard. And soon she was at Bernard´s door. She knocked on the door.

"Lady Oscar!" Rosalie yelled happily as she opened the door.

"I need to talk with Bernard" she said as she charged in.

Rosalie was surprised. Lady Oscar had always greeted her kindly. Always. There must be something that bothered her to make her act like that. So, she closed the door behind her and called for her husband.

"What are you doing here, barging in like that?!" Bernard asked Oscar. He was bothered for her to come so late. And unexpected. "You could have sent me a note" he told her.

"You invited us" she replied.

"Not in the middle of the night!"

"I need to talk to you, in private!" she yelled.

"I don´t have any secrets from Rosalie." he said.

"Fine. I know it´s you. The black Knight. It´s you."

"What are you talking about?! That´s nonsense!"

"Stop lying! I noticed that today, that I have seen you before. Besides you look exactly like the Black Knight!"

"And? Do you have any evidence?"

"Well, where were you last night?"

"Here, with my wife."

"Nonsense!"

"No, Lady Oscar. He was here with me."

"Rosalie" she walked to her and took her hand "you don´t need to defend him." she said to her calmly.

"But it´s the truth. I swear it."

"What?"

"Why are you asking, anyway?" Bernard asked.

"As if you didn´t know!"

"Well, I don´t! That´s why I´m asking!" he responded.

"They said that the Black Knight broke into a manor last night."

"Who? Where?!"

"Couple of commoners. Just a few minutes ago"

"Since when you have started to listen to commoners? Oh, yeah…since you married one."

"What?" only now Oscar started to think about André.

"But that wasn´t me!" he interrupted her thoughts.

"Then, who was it?"

"Somebody is pretending to be me and is robbing the nobles!"

"Why would someone do that?" she asked.

"I don´t know. Maybe someone is robbing the nobles for his own good and scapegoat me!"

"But that´s…" she stopped to think. "And where is André?" he was not there with her. So, where was he? He was just right after her…

Oscar started to get nervous. André had always been right there beside her, always. But now, where was he?

She had no idea that André´ s disappearance and the Black Knight affair had close connections…


	16. Chapter 16

**Chapter 15**

André woke up with a huge headache. "Damn it!" he swore "what the hell happened?" he looked around him. It was dark but he could see that he was in a basement. He must have been out for awhile, but for how long, he had no idea. He had a vague memory of being attacked from behind. He had passed out and someone had brought him here, into the basement. But why?

As he tried to move, he realized he had been tied up. His hands were in shackles attached to the wall behind him. His feet were free, but that didn´t help. He was unable to free himself.

Then he saw movements further away from him. He knew he wasn´t alone.

"Hey!" he yelled. But there was no reply. "I know you´re there! Let me go!"

"No way!" someone responded. It was a voice of a man.

"Why not? What do you want from me in the first place? I´m no one!"

He did not respond, he just laughed.

André tried to pull the shacks but he couldn´t. Those were too strong.

"You´re not leaving!" the man made fun of his attempt to get free.

Not long afterwards they heard footsteps coming closer. Then the door to the basement opened. André turned to look at his capturers.

Some men came inside, most of them unknown to André. But one of them seemed familiar… But who was he?

"Look!" said one of them "we´ve got him!"

They approached André. It was then when he recognized the man; it was no other than Saint Just.

"What have you done?!" Saint Just yelled angrily as he looked at André "that´s not him!"

"What do you mean?!" one of the men said "Of course it´s him!"

"He´s the Black Knight!"

"No!" Saint Just replied "he´s not the Black Knight!"

"But he looks exactly like him!"

"No!" he persisted "he is not him!" Saint Just told them they have the wrong man. He turned his anger towards his men. André sat quietly as he watched them arguing. He was thinking about his destiny. What would they do now when they found out he wasn´t the one they were looking for? He had seen their faces and could recognize them. He had to figure out the way to get out of there.

"Fine!" Saint Just yells suddenly. "I dealt with him later. But right now I´ve got things to do. Because you ruined my plans!" he said and rushed out followed by his men.

Thank goodness they didn´t know, who he was. If they knew he was married to former commander of the Royal Army, they might do something awful…

Meanwhile Oscar and Bernard had arrived to the tavern where she and André had last been, together. Oscar had wanted to go alone, but Bernard had persisted on coming along. They were searching for André everywhere, but found nothing. They asked everyone, but no one knew anything. It seemed like he vanished into a thin air. "He couldn´t have just disappeared without leaving any signs" she told him.

"You´re right." Bernard admitted "I think these people are too afraid to say anything…"

Right at that moment they heard a loud explosion coming from further away. What was that?! They looked at each other and rushed outside. Her heart was beating fast for all that what had happened. She could only think of _him_. Where was he? How was he? And what was that explosion about? Everything seemed to slow down for her.

She saw this huge cloud of dust that told her something had been blown away. It must have been a big warehouse or a building. "Let´s go!" Bernard told her and so they rush towards it. When they reached it, they saw that it was the king´s cousin´s palace that had been blown away. It was in wrecks.

They just stood there and watched the devastation. They were speechless. Who would do something like this? And what for?

"Someone is clearly after me" Bernard finally broke the silence.

"Why?"

"Because I should have been there, inside the building. If I hadn´t followed you to the tavern to look for André, I would have been dead"

Oscar looked at him wondering. She had a question in her mind, but she didn´t have a chance to ask it, when he was already answering it.

"It was my hiding place. There I changed into Black Knight. We used to meet there, me and couple of other men. There we planned the next manor to rob. We had a meeting scheduled for tonight, but…" he gulped.

"…then you showed up unexpectedly and delayed my plans…"

She didn´t even let him finish when she asked "Do you think they mistook him for you?"

A silence reigned between them for a few minutes. For her it was unbearable. She was just looking at him. Finally he answered.

"That´s very likely"

That was the answer she was afraid of. It was something she didn´t want to hear. Only then she started panicking "what if he´s there?" she pointed to the ruins. She immediately rushed towards the ruins, but Bernard rushed after her and stopped her.

"Let me go!"

"No!"

"Let me go! I need to find him!" she cried.

"No!" he looked into her eyes as he held her hands so tight she couldn´t release herself from his grip "You need to go to Rosalie. I´ll search for the ruins for him. If he´s there, I´ll tell you. If he´s not there, I´ll tell all the same"

"But…"

"No buts! Go! You´re too emotional to function" he yelled at her.

"Alright"

She finally agreed to go. With heavy foot she walked towards Rosalie´s home. She couldn´t think clearly. All she could think was her husband. She just needed him. She wanted to hold him, be in his arms, again. So that everything would be fine, again.

When she finally reached the familiar door, she knocked on it, and Rosalie opened it. "Lady Oscar!" she was surprised to see her like that; she was crying" What´s the matter?"

"André…" Oscar just managed to say what was going on when she suddenly felt sick. She was still standing outside, when she threw up.

Was it because she was so exhausted of everything that had happened within the last few hours or was it something else?

"Are you pregnant?!"

"What?"

"Come in, Lady Oscar" Rosalie said "Lay down, so that you feel more comfortable."

Oscar did was Rosalie asked her to. She also told everything to her. About finding nothing at the tavern and the big explosion happening. But apart from that, they could only sit and wait. Wait until Bernard would come home and tell them what he had found. Time seemed to pass by slowly. Oscar kept watching the clock so often that it didn´t seem to work at all. The hands of the clock just stood still. And still…

Until…

The door opened and Bernard came in.

"Well?!" Oscar stood up and asked him. She was impatient.

"Relax" he told her "he´s not there."

"Are you sure?!" she persisted.

"Yes" he said he didn´t find André. And he did search thoroughly, leaving no stone unturned. He wasn´t there. "There were punch of other people looking for the dead, and we found only a few."

"So, who died?" Rosalie asked.

"The king´s cousin himself and couple of his closest men." he answered "Luckily there´s not so many casualties." he continued.

"But the whole explosion was carefully planned and very deadly. The whole palace is in ruins, now."

"Do you have any idea, who is behind all this?" Oscar asked.

"I have my suspicions, but…" he was hesitant to share those.

"Well, who?!" Oscar kept on asking.

"There are much more important matters right now to be concerned of" he answered. "We should probably find some other place to stay" he told them "if someone is after me, he probably knows where I live"

"We are all in danger if we stay here"

They quickly packed their belongings and rushed out…


	17. Chapter 17

**Chapter 16**

It was a hot summer evening. The fog had become so thick that it was difficult to see anything. But still there was something…or someone out there…a figure. Moving.

This blurry figure from the distant seemed to come closer and closer. And the outline started to become clearer as the figure approached.

Then, there was this sound; this continuing sound that seemed familiar. The sound of galloping. And the sound became clearer and stronger…

It was now clear that it was a person riding a horse. And the figure looked so familiar…

Her blond hair swayed freely as she approached…

Her face was that of a goddess…

Her uniform…

It was…

It was Oscar.

Oscar was riding on Ceasar. She looked determined, but at the same time she looked somehow worried. She rushed Caesar to gallop faster and faster…

They were coming closer…

And closer…

Oscar…

Oscar…

"Oscar!"

André woke up sweating. It was all a dream, just a dream. But he knew she was coming for him….

"Oscar"

He was still in the basement. All alone. But that was about to change, when he heard footsteps coming closer. Was Saint Just now coming for him?

As the door opened André saw him with three men. And they all came towards him. Without saying anything.

Then, one of the men stepped near him and took a pistol from his pocket. He pointed it at André.

As he looked at the barrel, he thought that this was it. His time had come. "Oscar" he thought as he closed his eyes and waited for the gun to fire, but nothing happened. He opened his eyes again and saw another man coming towards him holding a key in his hand. Then he unlocked André's hands.

"Get up!" The man yelled still pointing the pistol towards André.

"You´re not going to kill me?" he wondered.

"That depends entirely on you" Saint Just answered.

There were not going to kill him? But why would they spare his life? And what for?

André knew now that he´d better do what they say or he would suffer. Saint Just was a man whit whom one shouldn't be playing around…Not if wanting to stay alive.

"What´s your name?" they asked him.

"It´s Pierre…" he didn´t want to say his real name, because if they knew who he was, Oscar might be in danger.

"So, you´re married?"

"…"

"I saw the ring"

"Oh shit" he thought. He´d better figure out something "my wife passed away recently"

"Really?" Saint Just looked at him with a suspicion in his eyes. He was a clever man, so André should be very careful.

"Yeah, it was…" he had to quickly think of something "…a childbirth." he said "They both died"

"I see."

"Do you know Bernard Chatelet?" they quickly went into the business. It was because of Bernard that they had kidnapped him? But why? What would they want with him? Then he remembered that also Oscar had wanted something from him…

She was probably now with him.

"Bernard…" he thought better to lie "…who?"

"You look like him, thought"

"Really?" André pretended he didn´t know Bernard. "Who is he?"

"He´s the Black Knight"

"Oh…" It now all made sense…What Loulou had said at that time when they had encountered Bernard. _."You know, mister…"_ she had said to Bernard _"you look a lot like André…"_

Now that he thought; Oscar had been very quiet at that particular moment. She must have realized the identity of the Black Knight back then. And that´s why she had rushed out so quickly to search for him. But if _she_ was with him, _she_ was also in danger. André gulped at that very thought.

"Oscar"

All of a sudden they threw clothes at him "these will fit you perfectly" those were exactly the clothes that the Black Knight had been wearing…

"You´re going to be the Black Knight" Saint Just said.

"We tried to trap him earlier, but that failed"

"So far the Black Knight had been lucky enough to escape, but not anymore" they told him "with your help we can lure him out from his hiding place. And this time he won´t be so lucky"

"And if you try anything, you´ll die" they added.

Meanwhile Oscar, Bernard and Rosalie had found a peaceful room in a tavern for their hiding place. It was rather simple and small tavern, but located in a remote place making it unfamiliar to many people. So, there they would be safe.

"Here we´ll be safe" Bernard said.

"Bernard" Oscar started "we need to find André"

"I think I know, who took him"

"Think?!" Oscar got angry "You _Think_?!"

"Look, Oscar" Bernard turned towards her "I know you´re worried, but we needn't rush. "

"But you´re not even sure, who took him?!"

"I have a pretty good idea about that!" he raised his voice "But I don´t have any evidence"

"We´ll get the evidence, right?" Rosalie interrupted them.

"All I´m saying is that he is very dangerous man" he tried to explain it to Oscar.

"I don´t care" Oscar said "Just tell me where he is and I´ll deal with him!"

"I don´t think that´s a good idea."

"Why not?"

"He is not only clever and dangerous, but he also has men who work for him."

"So, what do you suggest we do?"

"We need a plan"

"Listen…" Both Oscar and Rosalie listened carefully as Bernard told them about his suspicions. He was pretty sure that it was Saint Just, who wanted him dead. He argued that both Robespierre and Saint Just knew about his secret. The secret of the Black Knight. And then there were couple of his closest friends, who also knew, but they were to trust.

"Do you trust Robespierre?" Oscar doubted.

"Yes, I do." he explained "he wouldn´t do something like this."

Oscar was still doubting, but all the same; she asked "So, are we going to ask his help, then?"

"I have a better plan" Bernard started "Saint Just knows both me and Robespierre. I know he wouldn´t trust Robespierre" then, he took a piece of paper and wrote something on it.

"Here, take this" he said and gave it to Oscar.

"What is it?"

"It´s a note to my friends. Saint Just don´t know them. Go to them and give the note. They will help you. "

"Together you can follow Saint Just into his hiding place, and wait until he and his men are gone…"

"…and safe André while they´re away." Oscar continued.

"Exactly"

Oscar, Bernard and Rosalie had already lost few days because they had needed to cover their tracks. The time was still ticking; they needed to hurry, if they wanted to safe André. Saint Just was a dangerous man, and being close to him could be deadly. Oscar knew that and that´s why she was so impatient and didn´t want to wait any longer. Without further saying, she grabbed her pistol and was about to leave, when Rosalie stopped her.

"Lady Oscar" she cried holding her arms around her "be careful"

"I will, Rosalie" she smiled as she took Rosalie´s hands off "Don´t worry"

"You should be, Oscar. I mean it." Bernard said "These men are dangerous"

Oscar just nodded and left.

"Oh, Bernard" Rosalie cried and rushed into his arms.

"Rosalie, everything is going to be alright" he comforted her. He didn´t say it aloud, but he was worried, too.

Meanwhile Saint Just and his men took André into another building, now he had his own room on the third floor. As soon as he was left alone, he tried the door, but found it to be locked from the outside. Then he walked to the window and looked outside. There was no way he could climb down or even up. He was stuck. And Saint Just knew it. He had no other option than to wait and see what would happen. So, he sat down on the bed and sighed.

"Oscar"


	18. Chapter 18

**Chapter 17**

Oscar together with Bernard´s friends had followed Saint Just already a couple of days. They had started to question whether they would find out anything, but then…one day they saw him entering a building, that looked promising. _He_ could be there.

But because he had company, the building was not left unguarded and they couldn´t enter it. Oscar started to get impatient and she started to feel even worse; she was throwing up frequently. She was told to go to see a doctor, but she insisted not to. She didn´t want to waste any time, she just wanted her husband back. "At least, go to our hiding place to rest" they told her, and she reluctantly agreed.

She was lying on her bed in this small room, fearing the worst but hoping for the best. But just as she was about to lose her hope, her friend came and told that the building was empty; finally they could barge in. They rushed outside into the streets of Paris…

Meanwhile, Bernard had an unexpected visitor; a strange man knocked on his door, and while he opened it, the man gave him a package. "I was instructed to give you this" he said.

"From whom…"

"Someone called Oscar" the man said and left.

Rosalie rushed towards Bernard as he closed the door. Together they opened the package. It contained weird clothes…and a mask that looked like someone´s face…

"What is this?" he wondered.

"There´s a note inside" Rosalie told him "this costume is André´s. He wore it when he was courting me so that he would not be recognized…I thought this might help you, after all, you two are the same size. Please, take good care of it. Oscar."

"…"

"He wore _that_ dress when he was courting her?"

They looked at each other with a puzzled look on their faces.

"I guess they were concerned about getting caught…" Rosalie wondered.

"Well, I can go out wearing this and no one would ever recognise me" Bernard came to think. And soon he had the clothes on. Then he put the mask on his face.

"How do I look?" he asked Rosalie.

"Different" she admitted."Very different" If she didn´t know her husband, she would never recognize him.

"Good" he smiled, took Rosalie into his arms and kissed her.

After he let go off her he headed for the door. "Rosalie, wait for me" he said.

"Where are you going?" she asked worried.

"To help Oscar" he answered and walked out of the door.

"I hope we´re not too late" he thought as he walked away…

Meanwhile Oscar and her friends searched the building. They split up; two of the men went upstairs while Oscar concentrated on searching the downstairs together with one of the men. They found the hallway; empty.

Then, the kitchen; empty.

Then they searched for the rest of the rooms; those were empty, as well.

"Oscar" he whispered, showing one more door. She gave him a sign to slowly open the door.

As she peeked inside, she found out that it was the cellar of the building. He could easily be there…

Her heart beat fast as she entered into the stairways. The man followed her closely. As they reached the bottom of the stairs, they felt this strange silence reigning…

They found the cellar…empty. But somehow she knew that _he_ had been there. She didn´t know, why, but somehow…she knew.

The man walked around with a torch in his hand. He was looking for clues…

"There´s blood in here" he said and pointed at the floor.

Oscar rushed to him immediately. When she looked at the floor she saw blood alright, but the amount was very small. At least, she thought that way. And she was relieved. After all; he was still alive.

He had to be.

As she moved away from the spot, the man looked at her with a pity in his eyes, touching the blood with his leg. To him it was a sign that her husband had passed away.

Meanwhile Gerodero was visiting Buoille. " He killed the king´s cousin!" he was yelling with his face all red. "Do whatever it takes to get that bastard" he told Gerodero, who was standing still.

"Yes, sir" he answered.

"Take as many men as you need"

"Yes, sir"

"And contact Fersen. He will help you"

"Fersen, but…"

"No buts!" Bouille yelled. This was serious business. "Go to him, immediately"

Gerodero just nodded and left. He knew how serious this all was. But Fersen? Bouille was a great man and he respected him, of course. But still…he shook his head "Bouille can sometimes be a real pain…" he thought.

But he had no other choice, but to obey him. So, he went to meet Fersen.

Meanwhile, deep into the dark streets of Paris…

It was already getting dark, and people were retiring for their day´s work. People of Paris went to their homes, at least; almost all of them. For some people, their "job" would just begin…

Saint Just and his men had changed their hiding place, yet again. But their strategy remained the same; to lure the Black Knight…

With the help of an imposter. André. He was getting ready to put the Black Knight´s clothes on. And the men were near him to make sure he would do exactly what they told him to.

"Take the ring off"

"No"

"Take the ring off!"

"No!" he persisted "this is the only thing that reminds me of my wife. I´m not taking it off!" he told them.

"Should we kill him?" they asked Saint Just.

A moment of silence reigned the room.

"Let him keep it" he said "but if he refuses our requests once more" he continued "then shoot him"

Then, Saint Just walked to the door and left.

"You heard him" said one of the men as he hit André.

"You´d better do as he says"

They left him all alone to think about his situation. And to get ready for the night…

Meanwhile Oscar and her friends had left the building. As soon as they got outside, she felt ill and fainted…

Everything became dark, but everything became white at the same time…

It was all blurry…

When she finally woke up, she was dazzled by the light coming from a window…

"Where am I?" she managed to utter.

"Oh, my dear Oscar…" said a voice with tender tone. That voice sounded so familiar…

When she looked around, she saw her mother sitting next to her. On her bed in her own room. But, of course. Where else she would be?

"How are you feeling?" she asked. She had worried look on her face.

"I…" she paused "have a headache…" she managed to say.

"It´s quite natural" her mother replied "under these circumstances…"

"Circumstances?" Oscar asked.

Then she noticed Grandmother weeping quietly over her bed.

"What circumstances?!"

"You don´t remember…" her mother started "but you had an accident and you hit your head"

"So, that´s why it aches so much" She said. She thought that it explained everything, but when she stopped to think, it didn´t explain anything. Why was grandmother crying? And why she had hit her head? And where? But most importantly; how come she didn´t remember anything?

"When did this happen?" she asked her mother.

"Two months ago"

"What?!"

being very busy, the next chapter will take a while...


	19. Intermission

Intermission…

André was sitting by the window in his room. By being obedient, he had gained some trust from his masters. But deep down inside he had started to plan an escape. At the beginning, he had hoped to hear from Oscar, but she never came. "Something must have happened" he thought. That was all the more reason for him to leave as soon as possible. During the months he had learned new skills; how to climb walls so high, how to break into houses easy enough and how to run as fast as he could. Those skills would now help him get away and return to his wife…

To be continued in autumn…


	20. Chapter 19

**Chapter 19**

The general was standing by his window, thinking of those last few months…His chest was tight, when he thought of all of the things his daughter had gone through. It all started that one evening…

That day he had just returned to his mansion and was busy working, when a maid called for him. It was about lady Oscar. She had come home. He immediately rushed towards the front door. But for his surprise, an unknown man was standing in front of his door, holding Oscar in his arms.

" Sir" he started "I´m afraid…"

But the general wouldn´t listen. Instead he grabbed his daughter from the man´s arms. She was unconscious. "What have you done?!" he yelled at him.

"Nothing, sir" he explained "we were searching for her husband, when she all of a sudden collapsed."

"What? Searching for her husband?!"

"Yes…it´s a long story…"

"Then you´d better come in and explain" he insisted.

Once they had put Oscar into her bed and called for the doctor, they sat down and the man told everything. The fact that her husband had been taken hostage and how desperately they had searched for him. Then he told about that basement…"he must be dead…" he said "we never discovered his body, but…"

"Is that so?" the general hesitated.

"I believe the stress and everything was just too much for your daughter." he figured.

After hearing everything the general sent the man away. He had decided not to continue the search. Even thought there was a chance that he´ll be alive. Why would he continue the search? He had never accepted his daughter´s marriage to a servant in the first place. "Disgrace" he thought. "She´d be better off without him"

By that time, the doctor had examined her; she had a high fever and she had been at the edge of exhaustion. All she needed was a good and long rest. Without any disturbance.

But that was not her wish; she wanted to get up and continue the search. Somehow she knew that _he_ was still alive. Alive and waiting for her. The general ordered her to stay in bed, but she didn´t listen. She was hysterical and didn´t want to stay in bed, so they tried to tight her. It was then, when she struggled and accidently hit her head…

They immediately called for the doctor…

"I´m terribly sorry, but lady Oscar…" he started after examining her…

"What?!" the general shouted nervously "What has happened to my daughter?!"

"…"

"Please, doctor" Oscar´s mother pleaded "tell us. How is our daughter?"

"I´m afraid that the blow was so hard, that she had lost part of her memories." he explained.

"A part of her memories?!"

"Yes" he explained "I examined her when she was awake awhile ago. Apparently she doesn´t remember anything what had happened to her in the last year."

"…"

"I assume that the search for her husband and all the worrying had taken their toll"

"Oh, my dear Oscar!" she cried.

"So, will she ever recover her memories?"

"It´s hard to tell. It can happen, not that it´s guaranteed. In any case, you cannot talk about anything that has been happening for the last year. It would be too much for her. Only if she remembers herself…"

"Doctor, is there anything we can do to help her?"

"Yes. Call her nanny back, tell her everything and then just let lady Oscar relax. Don´t force her anything."

"Yes, doctor"

"And, finally; I would recommend taking her away for awhile. To the countryside, where´s peaceful. Give her plenty of rest and let her do things she loves. For instance; let her play violin as much as she wants to."

"We will, doctor" Oscar´s mother said and walked the doctor downstairs.

Meanwhile the general was left all alone, standing behind his daughter´s bedroom. "Poor Oscar" he thought, tears coming to his eyes. He opened the door and walked to her side. She was resting peacefully, without any knowledge of what had happened. All of the adventures she had gone through the past year, had been erased from her memory.

"Oh, Oscar" he cried. "I had treated you badly."

He sat down next to her. "All I ever wanted was to make you like me; the perfect general, who would protect the Royal Family and who would be the pride of our family"

"…I am so sorry, Oscar" he whispered.

"Only when I lost you, I came to realize how much you meant to me, and to my wife. Our lives had been so empty, ever since you left…I never wanted you to go away. Not like that, anyway…" then he saw the ring on her finger…"you won´t be needing this anymore" he said and took it off.

"From now on I will let you do things you want. I am not going to force you to do anything you don´t want to, and I am not certainly make you marry anyone, unless you want to. You can now choose the way of living, all by yourself…"

"I love you…"

"…after all, you are my daughter"

…The general recalled those days. Those sad days his daughter had been ill…But soon his thoughts were interrupted, when a maid called for him, and he came back to the present day.

"…sir…"

"Sir, your daughter is up and is calling you"

He turned from his window towards the door.

"Lady Oscar is awake" she repeated.

"Thank you, I´ll be there." he responded.

He walked to her, and for his surprise she was much better. She was sitting on her bed, smiling. To her it was all very amusing, when everyone was so worried about her.

"I only had a fever!" she laughed "and you stare at me as if I had returned from the dead!"

"Lady Oscar…" her nanny cried.

"Father" she turned towards him "I want to return to my duties"

"Oh!" her nanny screamed.

"Oscar…"

"Before you say anything, I can tell you that I feel fine!" she insisted "and I want to return to my work!"

"That´s not going to happen!" he argued.

"Why not?!"

"Because doctor ordered you to rest!"

"But according to nanny, I have been resting for weeks, if not months! I am fine and I am ready to return to the Royal Guards!"

"Gerodero is now in charge…"

"Really?!" Oscar joked "well, let´s thank him for taking things over while I was sick. But now I´m back!"

"Oscar…" the general started to cry.

That made Oscar quiet. She had almost never seen him like that. So sentimental. And for what? She only had a little temperature. "Father?"

"Look, Oscar…" he started "I cannot let you go back…"

"But why?"

"because you are not well…" he cried "I already thought I had lost you…" he stopped there. He knew he couldn´t say anything.

"Lost me?" she thought. Was it because of her fever? Was it worse than she had thought? Was she about to die? Well, whatever it was, it must have been serious, because her father wouldn´t cry over nothing.

"Alright, father" she admitted "I´ll do as you say."

"Thank you, Oscar" he said "we will leave as soon as possible, so start packing".

"Leave? Leave where?"

"To the countryside. There´s plenty of fresh air for you" he said and then he left the room.

"What was that all about?" she asked her nanny. But she said nothing.

"Oh, I almost forgot!" she screamed "there´s a quest waiting for you, lady Oscar"

"Who?"

"It´s count von Fersen"

"Alright, tell him I´ll be with him in a minute"

"Yes, lady. But don´t be too long. You mustn't let yourself get tired." she said and left the room.

Oscar put her clothes on and went to creed her friend.

"Fersen!" she shouted happily, as if she knew that she hadn´t seen him in a long time.

"Oscar!" he was happy to see her doing fine.

"How are you feeling?"

"I´m fine. And you?" she joked.

As they sat down, Fersen told her that he had been very busy. It was because they had been chasing the Black Knight.

"the Black Knight?"

"Yes."

"Who´s he? And why are you chasing him?"

"He is a thief dressed in black. He was previously known as the "Robin Hood of Paris"…"

"Robin Hood of Paris!" Oscar interrupted him. "What a name!" she laughed.

"Yes…" he smiled. He did see the same irony as she did. But things were much serious…"We are looking for him for murder"

"Who he had killed?"

"Duke of Orleans"

"HE´S DEAD?!"

"Yes"

"Well, I wouldn´t exactly cry over him" she smiled.

"Hmm…But this is serious. We need to locate the Black Knight…"

"I understand. But…"

"We have been chasing him for months now, and every time he runs away…"

"Really?"

"I`m afraid that we´ll never catch him…"

"I could help you"

"No!"

"But…"

"Definitely not! You are still recovering." he had heard all the horrible details of her past, and would never want her to go those things through, again. "You need to rest."

"Are you sure? After all, it seems to be very difficult to catch this Black Knight…"

"I am positive."

"Alright, as you wish." she said.

"It´s getting late, already, and I must hurry…"

"But you hadn´t tell any news about yourself, yet"

"I´ll do it next time, I´ll promise"

"I won´t be here. My father insisted me to rest. And the countryside would be the best for that."

"Quite so."

"Well, then Fersen." she said while getting up from her chair. "I wish you good luck"

"Thank you, Oscar" he smiled, but soon remembered her pain. "Will you be alright?" he asked, worrying.

"Of course, I´ll be alright. After all, I am Oscar François de Jarjayes" she smiled and left the room…


End file.
